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Grey  Robe 


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A  NOVELIZATION  OF  "MARION 
DELORME,"  THE  GREATEST  OF 
VICTOR  HUGO'S  DRAMAS, 
WHICH  CHALLENGED  THE  IN- 
STANT ATTENTION   OF  FRANCE 


""™""*""niriiih-a?nmi 


VICTOR.    HUGO 


ansa 


FEN  NO       <§L       COMPANY 
11  Eecst    Sixteenth    Street    New    York 


The 


Knigllts  of  the  Cross 

By   Henryk  Sienkiewicz 


The  Beacon,  Boston 

It  holds  the  reader  spellbound, 
•whether  it  rises  into  airy  grace  or 
dips  into  dread  realism.  It  gives  a 
powerful  picture  of  the  times  in  a 
strong  love  story,  showing  how  the 
growth  of  Christianity  was  retarded 
by  the  excessively  horrible  crimes 
and  abuses  committed  by  the 
Knights  of  the  Cross  under  the 
name  of  the  Church . 

The  Churchman 

It  seems  superior  even  to  "Quo 
Vadis"  in  strength  and  realism. 

The  Boston  Transcript 

Written  with  all  the  great  novel- 
ist's accustomed  fire  and  intensity. 

The  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat 

As  an  historical  romance  it  prom- 
ises to  rank  with  the  other  master- 
pieces of  the  author. 

The  Boston  Journal 

A  book  that  holds  your  almost 
breathless  attention  as  in  a  vise  from 
the  very  beginning,  for  in  it  love 
and  strife,  the  most  thrilling  of  all 
worldly  subjects,  are  described  mas- 
terfully. 

The  St.  Paul  Globe 

Thrillingly  dramatic,  full  of 
strange  local  color  and  very  faithful 
to  its  period,  besides  having  that 
sense  of  the  mysterious  and  weird 
that  throbs  in  the  Polish  blood  and 
infects  aUke  their  music  and  litera- 
ture. 


The  Hartford  Courant 

Another  remarkable  book.  His 
descriptions  are  tremendously  effec- 
tive ;  one  can  almost  hear  the  sound 
of  the  carnage ;  to  the  mind's  eye 
the  scene  of  battle  is  unfolded  by  a 
master  artist. 

The  Philadelphia  Item 

"  The  Knights  of  the  Cross"  has 
in  store  for  it  a  reputation  as  great ; 
as  that  gained  for ' '  Quo  Vadis, ' '  the  j 
book  that,  in  its  day,  took  the  world  i 
by  storm. 

The  Mail  and  Express,  N.  V. 

No  one  who  reads  ' '  The  Knightaj 
of  the  Cross  "  will  for  one  moment! 
regret  the  time  thus  spent. 

The  Philadelphia  Telegraph 

Of  enthralling  interest. 

It  is  certain  that  "  The  Kniehf 
of  the  Cross"  wi. 
much  enthusiasm  it 
works  by  the  samt 

Time  and  the  Hot 
Characters  such 
delineated  in  Engl  - 
mance  for  decades 

For  those  who  re; 
great  literature,  he 
ten. 


Saturday  Evening 

A  thrilling  roma 

sorbing,  and  of  bij 


vtjn 


RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE 

OR 

RICHELIEU   DEFIED 


•   •    •  •  •  • 


RED    ROBE    AND 

GREY    ROBE;    or 

Richelieu    D  efi  e  d 


FROM 


THE 


FRENCH        OF 


VICTOR        HUGO 

By       HENRY       L.        WILLIAMS 

Translator    of    his    "  Les    Miserable s,"    "  Ruy    Bias" 
"Notre     Dame,"     "Collided     Poems,"     Etc.,     Etc. 


R.    F.    FENNO    &    COMPANY 

9   and  1 1  East  Sixteenth  Street,  New  York 


,'     «  <        ■   r 

i    »  -       . 


Copyright,  1901 

BY 

R.  F.   FENNO  &  COMPANY 


Red   Robe  and   Grey   Robe 


in 

Red  Robe  and  Grey  Robe  nyiA-ilL 


OR 

RICHELIEU    DEFIED. 


CHAPTER  I. 


WHEN    THE    BLACK    AND    THE    GREY    GOWN 
COMMUNE,  LET  RED  PETTICOAT  BEWARE. 

It  was  towards  the  close  of  August,  in  the 
Year  of  Grace,  1618. 

Albeit  stretched  on  the  rack,  for  the  taxes 
and  exactions  of  petty  lords  who  tormented 
sunny  France,  Nature  remained  insensible  to 
the  fret  of  little  man,  however  dressed,  in  cloth 
of  gold,  in  homespun  or  clerical  black,  and  the 
landscape  was  beauteous  around  and  in  the 
bourg  of  Richelieu. 

The  chateau  was  built  in  the  later  days  of 
Francis  I.,  and  finished  imperfectly,  as  all 
things  were  "finished''  in  those  days  when  time 
little  counted,  under  the  late  King  of  beloved 
fame,  the  Fourth  Henry.  It  was  almost  en- 
tirely hidden  in  immense  white  and  red-flower- 
ing horse-chestnuts.  The  old  Castle  of  Du- 
plessis-aux-Tours — alas!  the  towers  were  long 
since  toppled  down  into  the  dust  of  the  cellars! 
— lay  in  ruins  on  one  of  those  twin  hills  over- 
topping the  vale,  and  this  crumbling  pile  con- 
fronted the  old  great  church,  on  the  other  hill- 
side, also  fallen  in  decay. 

The  hamlet  was  pervaded  with  that  deadly 
stillness  of  mediaeval  humble  life;   it  was  two 

7 


491302 


8       RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

centuries  behind  the  towns,  where  merchant 
princes  and  burghers  kept  aflame  the  light  of 
progress;  out  in  the  fields  were  the  men  and 
women,  and  even  the  children,  at  work,  heap- 
ing the  rocks  up  in  the  center  of  the  space, 
which  they  threatened  in  another  age  to  cover 
and  make  arid;  the  stunted  horses  and  oxen 
toiled  with  no  less  stolidity;  all  that  was  hale 
and  sturdy  had  been  dragged  off  to  the  wars. 
What  wars?  Not  one  of  the  trudgers  and  toil- 
ers could  define  them;  few  statesmen  kept  the 
run  of  them,  by  the  way ;  "the  wars,"  that  suf- 
ficed them — a  hole  in  the  earth  somewhere  to 
which  were  hurried  their  cattle,  grain,  straw, 
and  grown-up  sons! 

A  fine  veil  of  mist  rose  and  wrapped  the 
heights.  It  filled  up  the  gaps  whence  had  been 
extracted  stones  displaced  to  build  the  new 
church — a  chapel  in  the  chateau  grounds — and 
a  hermitage  up  yonder  on  the  hillside.  A  her- 
mit had  established  himself  there  since  a  gen- 
eration. 

He  had  respected  the  sacred  stones,  in  a 
measure,  but  paid  no  heed  to  those  of  the  cas- 
tle, robbing  those  warriors  of  the  race  of  Du- 
plessis,  who  had  escaped  sword  and  arrow  and 
djerrid,  with  the  hope  to  sleep  in  peace  in  their 
birthplace. 

It  was  perhaps  a  lesson  on  the  evanescence 
of  fame,  to  see  this  fugitive  from  society,  in  his 
dull  black  and  coarse  garb,  sitting  on  a  stone, 
worn  into  a  hollow  in  semblance  of  a  seat,  at 
his  jagged  doorway,  for  his  feet  were  on  a  stone 
from  a  tomb;  it  showed  carved  hound  and  fal- 
con and  fragments  of  mailed  feet,  denoting 
that  the  tomb  violated  was  a  gentle-blooded 
warrior's. 

The  hermit  viewed  the  scene,  so  habitual  to 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  9 

him,  with  listlessness,  never  dreaming,  per- 
haps, of  the  lord  of  his  manor  who  had  shed 
his  blood  to  be  licked  up  by  the  burning  sands 
of  the  Holy  Land.  He  had  crushed  the  viper- 
death  with  his  iron-shod  feet — only  to  be  dust, 
bestrewing  those  wildfiowers  there. 

In  the  old  man's  eyes,  vacant  as  was  their 
stare,  floated  the  regretful  glance  of  the  aged 
— remorse  or  recall  of  dead  sentiments — be- 
loved ones  gone  before,  nevermore  to  return — 
rarely  in  reverie. 

In  the  other  vale,  the  fog  thickened  and 
rolled  before  an  intermittent  breeze,  savoring 
of  forest  leaves,  which  sent  detached  clouds 
into  the  roofless  cloisters,  where  they  wavered, 
like  the  spectres  of  priests,  amid  a  colored 
flicker  from  still  unshivered  stained  glass  and 
the  reflection  from  ivory  and  marble,  mixed 
with  the  fallen  sill-stones. 

In  the  nooks,  martens  were  chirping,  or  they 
darted  out  to  chide  passing  birds,  not  of  their 
kind,  with  peevish  cries.  Above  all,  soared  the 
hawks,  clamoring  at  the  rising  gale,  of  which 
they  saw  the  potency  afar  off,  almost  sublimely 
ignoring  the  quarrels  of  the  petty  tribes  under 
their  circuits. 

"How  silent!"  mused  the  lone  man,  combing 
his  white  beard  with  his  thin  fingers;  "after 
all,  perhaps  it  is  only  the  misanthrope  who 
seeks  solitude!" 

He  had  solemn  reflections  as  he  saw  that 
church  and  castle  alike  had  come  to  grief. 

The  pain  was  augmented  by  his  wandering 
sight  perceiving,  above  on  a  height  and  below 
on  the  plain,  where  the  rivulet  coursed,  a  wind- 
mill and  a  watermill,  busy  and  noisy. 

"The  abbot  preaches  no  more — the  paladin 
molders  like  his  lance!    but  the  workers  for 


10      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

realization  of  the  prayer:  'Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread!'  they  go  on  forever." 

Monksbane  dotted  with  blue  the  vast  sheets 
of  grass,  and  mountain  laurel,  with  death  to 
the  kid  in  its  glossy  leaves,  lined  the  goats' 
paths  up  the  steeps. 

The  poor  little  cottages  seemed  the  more 
miserable  from  the  ground  teeming  with  ver- 
dure and  agricultural  wealth,  to  justify  the 
name  of  the  manor — the  RICH  PLACE. 

Suddenly  the  hermit  started  up. 

On  the  higher  land,  where  the  main  road 
skirted  the  woods,  yet  to  be  felled  and  the 
charcoal  transported  to  the  insatiable  maw  of 
the  county  town,  he  saw  something  moving 
amid  the  kaleidoscopical  commingling  of  col- 
ors— moss  spangled  with  its  tiny  flowers, 
lichens  also,  blooming  in  a  modest  way,  the 
grass  exhaling  perfume,  the  myriad  marvels  of 
vegetation  emitting  their  last  salutation  to  the 
sun  and  to  summer,  like  so  many  censers. 

"It  is  he,  I  think!  I  was  sure  my  appeal 
would  bring  him!" 

Going  into  the  cave,  he  picked  up  a  pair  of 
German  spectacles  with  which  he  read  his 
Bible,  and  donning  them  at  the  door,  he 
watched  the  solitary  wayfarer  coming  towards 
him  with  a  steady  foot,  showing  that  he  knew 
the  road  even  over  the  quagmire  and  by  the 
precipice. 

The  man  who  followed  the  zigzags  of  the 
path,  made  rather  by  straying  cattle  than  man, 
was  clad  in  grey  and  was  not  discernible  at  a 
distance  by  the  naked  eye. 

As  he  came  down  the  slope,  he  stopped  to 
utter  a  prayer  for  both  warriors  and  priests. 

"He  is  right,  they  are  both  of  his  race — 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  11 

soldier  of  Christ  and  soldier  of  Mars!"  said  the 
hermit. 

On  ascending  the  castle  hill,  the  stranger 
showed  that  he  was  wearing  a  Capuchin's  grey 
frock,  girdled  by  a  rope;  out  of  the  hooded 
cape  peeped  a  black  chinbeard  and  gleamed 
dark  eyes,  deeply  set,  though  the  man  was  not 
old  and  did  not  seem  to  be  a  student.  His 
walk  was  firm  as  a  soldier's;  his  feet  were 
white  and  tender  as  if  he  had  not  long  been' 
accustomed  to  his  footgear,  rawhide  sandals. 

"This  is  not  the  Bishop,  in  disguise,"  mut- 
tered the  ascetic  with  surprise.  "He  could 
never  send  a  delegate  in  his  stead  when  I  im- 
pressed the  importance  and  the  private  inter- 
ests involved  in  the  affair!" 

The  Capuchin  approached  so  near  that  the 
hermit  recognized  him. 

"Oh,  it  is  the  Father  Joseph  Le-Clerc  du 
Tremblay,"  said  he,  like  one  who  had  all  the 
talk  of  the  count v  at  his  fingers'  ends.  "To 
you  Peace,  Father  Joseph!  Is  the  Bishop  ill 
that  he  has  not  come?" 

"Bishop  Alphonse  of  Lucay  is  in  excellent 
health,  brother!  but  he  cannot  come.  He 
leaves  all  to  me,  if  anything  is  to  be  done  up- 
on your  relation.  You  can  have  the  more  trust 
as  you  know  me  as  his  schoolmate  at  college, 
and  his  secretary  since  he  entered  into  the  dio- 
cese of  Lucay." 

"You  are  as  welcome  as  he,"  returned  the 
hermit,  but  his  disappointment  was  manifest. 
"Be  seated—" 

"Yes,  I  traveled  on  foot." 

"And  have  some  refreshment." 

"His  Grace  hopes  that  you  have  called  him, 
by  his  representative,  for  something  better 
than  to  lay  the  ghost  of  some  disputed  text 


12      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

of  the  Gospels!  I  was  in  Paris  when  he  wrote 
to  dispatch  me  hither." 

"The  more  reason  you  should  refresh  your- 
self before  we  talk  at  length." 

The  monk  Joseph  looked  into  the  hermitage; 
it  was  no  novelty  to  him;  a  large  flat  stone 
was  set  upon  two  or  three  others  serving  as  a 
central  support;  on  the  slab  two  cups  of  hol- 
lowed-out  pineknots,  two  platters  of  stone, 
arduously  churned  deeply,  two  wooden  spoons, 
and  on  a  hearth,  from  the  fire  of  which  the 
smoke  curled  up  by  a  natural  chimney,  a  pip- 
kin breathing  of  soup  flavored  with  wild  mint. 

"Boiled  kid,"  said  Simon;  "and  wheaten 
cake — " 

"I  have  eaten  on  the  road,"  replied  Joseph, 
untempted;  "and  by  your  mien,  I  judge  that 
you  have  news  to  impart,  making  appetite  su- 
perfluous!" 

The  old  man  bowed  gravely. 

"It  is  a  matter  which  you  must  decide  upon, 
and  no  other.  You  know  that,  though  base- 
born,  I  am  a  Richelieu,  and  so  hold  the  inter- 
ests of  the  house  to  heart?" 

"You  have  proved  it  on  occasion.  You  were 
a  brave  soldier  in  Spain  and  the  Dutch 
Marches;  before  you  cast  off  the  mail  for  the 
sackcloth.    So  this  concerns  the  House?" 

And  he  looked  over  the  castle  ruins  towards 
the  chateau,  its  red  tiled  roof  blotting  the 
green  like  a  lake  of  blood  after  a  battle. 

"Wait  till  I  receive  my  evening's  supply  of 
milk." 

He  pointed  to  the  village,  on  the  circuitous 
road  from  which  a  girl  was  approaching,  car- 
rying a  pot  on  her  shapely,  golden  head. 

Joseph  studied  the  newcomer,  as  she  grace- 
fully made  her  way. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  13 

"I  know  her — but  bow  she  bus  grown!  It  is 
the  daughter  of  the  weaver  Hervieu." 

"Ramire?  Yes.  A  heathen  name,  which 
the  parish  priest  hesitated  to  apply  to  her  with 
sacred  sanction  until  I  assured  him  that  it  was 
good  orthodox  Spanish." 

"You  were  all-time  her  friend,"  observed  the 
traveler. 

"My  reasons  are  strong;  but,  hush,  she  is  in 
earshot." 

The  peasant  girl,  nimbly  surmounting  the 
last  difficulties  of  the  ascent,  encumbered  with 
strewn  stones  from  the  ruins,  passed  the  monk 
in  grey  without  more  emotion  than  she  would 
give  a  rock;  Joseph,  besides,  had  buried  his 
face  in  his  hood  and  sat  statuesquely. 

She  nodded  to  the  older  man,  entered  the 
cave,  poured  the  milk  out  of  the  pot  into  a 
stone  jug  which  she  readily  found,  all  as  grace- 
fully as  a  Hebe,  and  asked  in  a  voice  sweet  as 
befitted  one  so  remarkably  gentle  among  the 
dull,  coarse,  overworked  peasants  of  the  day 
and  the  region: 

"Is  there  anvthing  vou  want  for  the  morning, 
Father  Simon?" 

"Nothing,  child!  You  do  not  look  so  down- 
cast as  of  late!  Are  your  chicks  feathering  well 
for  the  winter — have  you  sold  the  sheep  at  a 
good  price?" 

"No,  I  feel  better  than  I  did.  Good  news 
sends  a  hint  before — like  the  dawn  has  its 
fingers  thrust  out  into  the  night  before  it  dis- 
covers its  hand  full  of  glory!" 

Joseph  stamped  his  foot. 

This  exaltation  of  speech  seemed  to  irritate 
him,  as  well  as  the  refinement  in  one  born  a 
boor  and  bound  to  remain  such  on  the  manor 
of  her  fathers. 


14      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Good  afternoon,  father!"  she  said,  coming 
out,  and,  descending  airily  with  the  crock 
under  one  arm,  snatched  at  a  cluster  of  jet 
sloes  from  the  thorn  without  wounding  her 
delicate  hand,  like  a  bee  gathering  honey  amid 
the  briars. 

'•What  do  you  think  of  her?"  asked  Simon, 
when  the  maid  appeared  on  the  opposite  slope. 

"Wondrously  fair!  no  longer  meet  for  the 
oaf  to  whom  the  lord  engaged  her,  when  I  was 
last  at  Richelieu." 

"Oh,  she  has  a  will  of  her  own;  and,  inde- 
pendently of  the  marquis,  eluded  the  offers  to 
be  run  away  with,  from  several:  shipowners' 
sons  of  Nantes,  rich  farmers — I  know  not  all! 
no  coquette,  but  each  day  she  seems  to  rise  in 
the  column  of  valuation — " 

"Self-appraisement?" 

"Not  her  own  but  the  parish's.  On  market- 
day,  you  may  see  the  pick  of  the  young  men 
loiter  round  the  cross  at  the  cross-roads  to 
see  her  go  by,  perhaps  to  offer  her  a  posy  or  a 
fine  fruit,  just  as  they  are  practical  or  poeti- 
cal!" 

"Our  rustics  poetical? — save  the  mark! 
However,  I  grant,  I  have  read  rhymes  and  seen 
their  cause — less  justifying  rhapsodies!  She 
is  a  morsel  fit  for  a  prince  of  the  Blood  Royal," 
added  the  Capuchin,  reflecting  on  the  beauties 
of  the  court. 

"She  is  losing  nothing  by  being  born  to  a 
bucolic  atmosphere.  If  not  a  prince  as  high 
as  you  say,  some  noble  of  no  mean  house  is 
a-courting  Ramire." 

He  spoke  with  a  mixture  of  pleasure,  pride 
and  sorrow  which  perplexed  the  keen  observer. 

"What  nobles  are  here?  All  the  old  ones 
live  retired,  suffering  from  wounds  or  rheuma- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  15 

tism  owed  to  the  religious  wars,  and  their  sons 
are  packed  off  to  the  capital  to  be  brushed, 
licked  into  shape,  like  Orson,  for  the  court's 
eyes,  at  one  of  those  gentleman-finishing  acad- 
emics suggested  by  Henry  IV.,  or,  better,  by 
his  Minister  Sully." 

"I  think  this  cavalier  is  of  the  Academy  of 
Ovid.    I  saw  on  a  tree-bark — and  I  could  show 
it  you — a  passage  in  Latin,  cut  by  a  Milan  dag- 
ger and  not  a  lout's  billhook.    This  lover  is  a 
noble,  and  he  is  of  the  country,  certes!" 

"I  should  like  to  know  who  dare  poach  upon 
Richelieu!''  said  the  monk  with  a  most  unholy 
flash  in  his  dark  eyes. 

"It  is  not  known  yet." 

"Even  to  you,  Simon,  who  glean  the  secrets 
of  all  for  leagues  around?"  returned  the  other 
with  a  slight  sneer.  "You  know  when  the  no- 
tary has  forged  a  will  as  you  do  when  the  wood- 
cutter has  a  poached  Muscovy  duck  for  supper! 
You  must  know  whom  the  lass  loveth!" 

"At  least,  I  suspect  he  is  no  stranger  to  the 
district." 

"A  stranger,"  and  the  listener  laughed  drily. 
"I  did  not  pass  my  holidays  here,  beside  his 
Grace  the  Bishop,  reading  under  the  ancient 
elms  his  favorite  Tasso,  without  observing  your 
peasants.  Oh,  of  all  the  Arcadians  who  be- 
grudge anybody  but  the  natives  enjoying  their 
vale!  A  stranger — marry!  They  would  chase 
out  a  stranger,  with  the  dogs,  and  a  fiery  pe- 
tard attached  to  his  points!" 

"Truly,"  resumed  the  hermit,  "this  is  no 
stranger.  He  has,  on  a  stormy  night,  descended 
yonder  path,  along  the  Devil's  Backbone,  with 
a  step  as  unshaken  as  yours  an  hour  ago!  lb' 
threads  all  the  woodland  paths  without  dis- 
placing a  bramble  or  a  mossy  stone!    At  the 


16  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

same  time,  he  fell  into  a  trap  I  laid  for  him, 
only  escaping  with  the  loss  of  the  skirt  of  a 
mantle.  Velvet  of  Genoa,  brocade  on  brocade, 
with  real  gold  lace;  it  is  the  garment  of  a  high 
noble,  I  vow!" 

From  a  hole  in  the  wall,  between  two  stones, 
a  rude  clothespress,  he  produced  the  rag  in 
question. 

"Yes,  it  is  rich  stuff!"  said  Joseph. 

"It  was  a  trap  made  by  the  blacksmith  for 
the  man-wolf  supposed  to  prowl  the  environs 
of  the  hamlet!"  proceeded  the  hermit.  "My 
suspicions  were  aroused  by  the  vehemence  of 
Ramire,  protesting  against  a  snare  being  set — 
'For,  who  knows,'  she  said,  with  tears,  and 
wringing  hands,  'what  innocent  might  not  fall 
into  the  cruel  jaws?'  However,  the  unknown 
rover  escaped  with  his  cloak  torn,  no  more  than 
if  he  had  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  cloak-snatch- 
ers  of  the  town." 

"I  never  saw  such  velvet  in  Paris,"  replied 
the  Capuchin.  "It  is  rich — probably  procured 
from  some  of  those  peddlers  who  traverse  the 
kingdom  and  sell  cheaply  to  cover  their  true 
avocation  of  spies." 

"Then,  if  this  wanderer  does  not  come  from 
the  court,"  went  on  the  hermit,  "his  irregulari- 
ty of  visits  would  lead  to  the  belief  that  he  is 
with  the  army.  Stay,  now  I  bethink  me,  Ra- 
mire hums  an  army  song — " 

He  sang — indecorous  though  the  words  were 
in  a  cenobite,  devoted  to  peace: 

"The  cannon  are  speaking. 
The  trumpets  are  sounding; 

The  fifes  they  are  squeaking, 

Our  hearts  they  are  bounding — 
'Tis  the  signal  of  war!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  17 

"It  is  the  March  of  the  Regiment  of  Riche- 
lieu,'' said  the  monk  simply;  "that  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  soldier  who  marched  with  it  should 
murmur  it,  'tis  not  remarkable." 

"It  is  only  a  link  in  my  chain  of  reasoning." 

"To  what  end?" 

"I  asked  my  Lord  Bishop  to  travel  so  far  to 
tell  him  all.    But,  hark!" 

"To  what?" 

"We  are  no  longer  alone." 

"That  girl  returned?" 

"No,  a  man  in  the  myrtle  thicket  yonder." 

"Your  eyes  are  better  than  mine,  if  thirty 
years  older!  I  see* — yes,  I  do  see  some  one. 
Odd!   it  is  my  own  man." 

"Your  man?" 

"Yes,  you  ought  to  know  him;  He  comes 
from  Liesse;  but  what  is  he  doing  here,  when 
I  left  him  at  Champrave,  with  strict  orders  not 
to  quit  the  inn?'' 

"If  he  is  your  man,  call  him!" 

"Hist!    Laubardemont!"  cried  out  Joseph. 

The  man,  caught  by  surprise,  stopped  in  the 
mass  of  foliage.  But  a  repetition  of  his  name 
forced  him  to  own  that  he  was  discovered,  and 
he  slowly  left  the  covert,  recognized  the  hermi- 
tage at  the  entry  to  which  sat  the  two  ecclesi- 
astics, and  with  reluctance  came  towards  them. 

"I  know  the  rogue  now,"  observed  the  her- 
mit. "He  is  the  very  picture  of  those  queer 
cagots  of  the  Crumbling  Mountain,  the  Bards- 
of-the-Mount,  as  they  call  themselves,  who  pre- 
tend to  be  descended  from  the  Druids  whom 
Julius  the  Emperor  reduced  into  impotency  so 
that  they  received  the  religion  of  Christ." 

Laubardemont  was  a  tall,  lanky,  bony  man, 
with  a  forbidding  aspect  on  the  whole;  his 
eyes  were  shifting  and  his  complexion  at  the 


18  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

same  time  yellow  with  jaundice  and  flushed 
with  blood;  he  coveted  and  he  shrank  from 
gratification,  if  it  cost  him  an  act  of  daring  or 
a  pang. 

"What  are  you  doing  in  Richelieu?"  asked 
his  master,  for  the  rules  of  even  the  Capuchins 
allowed  a  titled  member  to  have  his  body-ser- 
vant, if  he  pleased,  outside  the  monastery 
walls. 

And  Joseph  du  Tremblay  was  esteemed  high- 
ly as  head  of  one  of  the  first  houses  of  the 
county. 

"Bringing  bad  news — " 

"What  bad  news  would  reach  you  at  the  se- 
cluded Golden  Fowl?" 

"Bad  and  sad,  master  mine!"  responded  the 
fellow,  slowly,  as  if  to  keep  the  hearers — for 
the  hermit  was  interested — on  tenterhooks. 
"There  came  to  the  Inn,  from  the  South,  a 
varlet  who  was  in  flight  for  his  native  Picardy. 
The  Ficards  are  close  knaves,  but  tlie  host  had 
a  choice  wine  which  would  unseal  the  tongue 
of  a  Turkish  mute.  He  and  I  hobnobbed,  for  he 
was  thankful  that  I,  who  told  him  I  could  see 
he  was  fleeing  for  his  life,  did  not  denounce 
him,  and  he  shared  with  me  his  story." 

"Let  it  not  be  a  long  one,"  said  the  Capuchin 
severely.  "It  may  have  saved  him,  but  it  will 
not  save  you  the  strappado!" 

He  brandished  his  rope  girdle  with  a  sig- 
nificant swish  in  the  air. 

"But  it  concerns  us!  He  was  the  man  to  a 
Breton  noble  who,  having  slain  his  antagonist 
in  a  duel,  dismissed  his  valet,  so  that  each 
might  seek  safety  his  own  way." 

"To  the  point,  thou  trifler  with  fire!  Duels, 
spite  of  the  interdictions,  occur  every  day, 
among  nobles." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  19 

"The  antagonist  of  this  Lieutenant  The- 
mines— " 

"Stop!  This  sounds  true,"  observed  the  Ca- 
puchin. "Themines  is  the  name  of  that  valiant 
old  captain  who  arrested  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
two  years  ago,  when  he  was  the  chief  of  the 
great  Coalition  against  the  realm." 

"This  is  one  of  his  sons,  master.  By  the 
same  token,  the  duel  came  about  by  the  master, 
our  marquis,  joking  young  Themines  on  his 
father  having  won  the  marshal's  baton  for  that 
capture.  The  marquis,  seeing  him  display  a 
new  sword  with  pride,  said  that  he  had  better 
brandish  a  cudgel!  it  was  more  in  his  family 
line!  So,  of  course,  Themines  retorted  that  he 
could  use  either  sword  or  cudgel  on  the  speaker 
of  insolence  reflecting  on  his  courageous  fath- 
er! They  fought,  with  swords,  and  Richelieu 
fell!"  concluded  Laubardemont,  blinking  and 
wringing  his  long  hands  till  the  knuckles 
cracked. 

"Our  lord?"  exclaimed  the  hermit,  rising. 

"I  knew  there  was  evil  in  the  air,"  continued 
the  valet,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross;  "as  I 
came  from  Paris,  a  humming-bird-moth  flut- 
tered across  my  path — " 

''Pish!"  ejaculated  Joseph  scornfully.  "This 
looks  as  much  like  an  assassination  as  a  com- 
bat." Turning  to  his  brother  in  the  church,  he 
whispered:  "Father  Simon,  I  should  not  argue 
against  the  marquis  being  sent  into  the  \Yest 
Country  on  a  mission  for  the  young  King.  This 
Breton  hotspur  was  set  upon  him." 

"Murder  or  fair  play,"  interposed  the  valet 
pertly,  who  had  overheard,  "my  poor  lord  is 
dead  all  the  same!" 

Simon  looked  up,  with  grief,  if  he  felt  any, 


20       RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

suppressed,  and   a  light  of  ambition    in    his 
eyes. 

"Bishop  Alphonse  would  be  the  lord  now  if 
he  had  not  renounced  all  on  entering  the  priest- 
hood." 

"True,"  answered  the  Capuchin,  uneasily. 
"He  may  rate  them  ill-advisers  who  urged  that 
step.    Armand  is  now  head  of  his  house." 

The  servant  stood  restlessly  on  one  foot  and 
the  other,  like  a  bittern  in  a  marsh. 

"Armand?  young  for  the  charge,"  observed 
Simon. 

"Eighteen!  princes  may  rule  as  kings  before 
that  age!" 

"He  is  a  princely  youth!" 

"Gifted,  haughty,  but  frivolous  as  Alphonse 
is  "grave!  Any  bright  light  attracts  the  pres- 
ent-day youth!  though  they  scorch  themselves." 

"Verily,  I  think  he  is  capable  of  rushing  in- 
to a  flame  for  a  prize,  though  he  did  burn 
for  it." 

Laubardemont  edged  off,  as  though  he  feared 
the  turn  the  dialogue  was  taking. 

"This  sequestered  father  is  a  by-blow  of  the 
Richelieus,"  mumbled  he,  "and  the  other  is  a 
leech  who  clings  to  them.  He  made  Count  Al- 
phonse surrender  all  and  embrace  the  Church 
. — see  what  he  has  lost  by  it!  ah,  as  well  put 
finger  betwixt  bark  and  wood  as  wedge  myself 
betwixt  that  pair.  But  the  marquis  is  dead! 
he  will  pour  no  more  hot  wine  down  my  back 
or  make  me  devour  a  red-hot  omelet!  beshrew 
him!  and  may  my  blessing — read  backwards! 
pursue  him  whither  he  has  gone,  for  making 
me  wed  that  knagging  Josseline,  for  all  she 
was  the  next  spinster  on  his  list  of  the  mar- 
riageable, when  I  had  to  marry  or  go  to  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  21 

wars  in  our  regiment !  I  wish  now  I  had  gone 
to  the  wars!" 

"Armand  might  have  done  well  at  court,  as 
a  page,"  remarked  Joseph,  "but  his  ear  for 
music  was  bad!  As  a  clerk  in  the  Finances, 
but  he  is  not  avaricious!  As  secretary  to  some 
kinsman,  as  he  has  an  aptitude  for  scrib- 
bling—" 

"He  wrote  verses  at  an  early  age,"  said  Si- 
mon; "but  as  he  had  the  modesty  to  inscribe 
Ovid's  and  not  his  own  lines  on  our  trees,  I 
cannot  criticise  him  now." 

"He  is  not  remarkable  in  any  trait — " 

"Barely  does  precocity  attain  the  ripeness  of 
genius!" 

"So  he  goes  to  the  army,"  continued  the 
Capuchin  coadjutor  of  the  Bishop  of  Lucay, 
with  vexation.  "What  waste  of  young  blood! 
to  pass  half  the  year  in  winter  quarters,  the 
other  moiety  in  sieges,  with  more  time  before 
the  mouth  of  the  dicing  cup  than  the  breach- 
ing cannon's." 

"But  with  his  brilliant  parts,  do  you  not 
think  that,  in  time,  in  some  predestined  field, 
he  will  shine?"  said  the  other  with  animation. 

"With  what  conviction  you  speak!"  said  the 
grey  monk,  startled. 

"A  Richelieu,  may  I  not  dream  of  the  fami- 
ly's  advance?  Alphonse's  eclipse  within  the 
cloisters  pained  me!  I  say  this,  though  it  may 
pain  you,  who  counselled  it.  I  hold  lonesome 
watches  up  here,  Joseph,  wrapped  in  the  fog 
which  bathes  the  old  ruins  of  the  feudal  forta- 
lice.  I  stand  among  the  ivy  which  binds  the 
time-gnawed  stones  and  I  follow  the  owl  in  its 
silent  circlings.  I  think  of  my  forefathers, 
Brother  Joseph,  who  listened  to  their  instincls 
alone,  and  pillaged  the  country  folk  for  the  ul- 


22  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

timate  gain  of  Paris,  its  residents  and  its  King. 
The  robber  barons  have  gone  their  way;  the 
gilded  courtier  who  squanders  in  the  chief  city 
the  patrimony  and  the  revenue  is  going.  What 
will  we  have  in  their  stead?" 

"The  priests,  father!  Already  we  own  half 
the  property  in  the  realm;  in  another  tweDty 
years  we  will  possess  two-thirds!" 

His  eyes  shone  in  his  hood's  shadows  and  his 
hands  closed  as  though  he  were  clutching  some- 
thing delectable. 

"The  marquis  will  not  see  this — perhaps, 
not  I!  but  you  may,  and  Armand,  for  sure, 
will!" 

"Heaven  grant  it!  But  after  a  monarch  so 
great  as  the  Fourth  Henry,  stagnation  follows, 
and  it  is  vain  fishing  in  muddy  waters." 

"The  muddiest  water  clears,  good  Brother 
Joseph!  The  boy  is  a  varied  creature.  I  have 
seen  him  set  his  heel  on  a  viper  and  replace  a 
plow-upturned  earthworm  under  the  severed 
clod.  He  will  rise!  and  not  resemble  that  Ro- 
man Emperor  who  amused  himself  torturing 
flies.  He  will  rise,  when  he  steps  into  his  own 
charmed  circle,  higher  than  my  imaginings — " 

"Mayhappen,  higher  than  mine!"  said  Jos- 
eph, as  if  catching  the  other's  ecstasy,  "Simon, 
you  are  truly  a  Richelieu — no  common  man! 
So  have  I  beheld  this  youth,  grown  man,  on  the 
most  exalted  heights,  next  the  clouds  that 
sweep  under  the  golden  floor  of  heaven!  Your 
judgment  is  always  sound;  so  affirms  the  Bish- 
op, and,  as  far  as  I  have  heard  it,  so  will  I 
maintain.  Armand  may,  therefore,  grasp  the 
sceptre,  whoever  wears  the  glittering,  idle 
crown!" 

"He  will  sway  it  like  a  king  born  to  it, 
then!"  continued  the  hermit,  enraptured  that 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  23 

he  had  an  echo.  "But  he  must  be  corrected  of 
following  his  impulses  aud  inclinations  in  their 
simple  transports.  These  young  men  of  good 
families  do  good  without  pride  in  it,  and  com- 
mit evil  without  remorse." 

"A  rinand,  now  that  he  is  a  lord,  will  listen 
to  his  brother,  and  to  me,  speaking  after  his 
prompting  words!  he  will  realize  all  the  hopes 
of  his  line." 

"To  think,"  continued  the  hermit,  while  Lau- 
bardemont  sat  down  at  a  distance  and  pre- 
tended to  be  playing  the  sentinel  while  strain- 
ing his  ears  to  catch  a  word  here  and  there, 
"to  think  that  a  chance  bullet,  a  pot  of  boiling 
pitch  in  the  escalade,  a  breaking  ladder  in  the 
assault — what  say  I?  a  fisticuff  over  a  disputed 
turn  of  a  card — any  trifle  may  slay  our  ensign! 
veritable  ensign  of  Richelieu!  And.  nearer 
home,  a  peasant's  billhook  may  split  that  skull 
which  contains  the  finest  brains  in  all  the 
county!" 

"Why  a  peasant's  billhook?"  asked  Joseph, 
perceiving  that  he  had  been  dexterously 
brought  to  a  point  desired  by  the  subtle  old 
man. 

"May  not  the  charming  Ramire  have  a  rustic 
sweetheart  who  would  waylav  her  gentlenjan- 
lover?" 

"Oh,  think  you  that  Armand— " 

"Master!"  cried  Laubardemont,  springing  up 
and  retreating  toward  the  hermitage. 


24  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER   II. 

ANOTHER  GOOD  SERVANT. 

"Why  the  alarm?"  questioned  both  the  holv 
men. 

Laubardemont  pointed  a  trembling  finger  to- 
wards a  grove,  in  the  growing  dusk. 

"I  spy  a  shadow — a  demon  rather  than  man, 
stealing  through  the  berry  copse  as  though  he 
were  proof  to  thorn  and  prickle!" 

"Like  yourself,  sneaking  along!  what  a 
mock-solitude  you  have  chosen,  Father  Simon," 
sneered  the  Capuchin.  "It  may  be  that  maid's 
peasant  swain — Hark  ye!  go  and  bring  in  that 
lurker!  If  you  do  it  deftly  I  may  pardon  your 
rudely  interrupting  our  colloquy!" 

"Dead  or  alive!"  said  the  valet,  clapping  his 
hand  to  his  side  where  a  broad  knife  clanked 
in  a  leather  sheath,  useful  to  carve  or  at  close 
quarters. 

"It  may  as  well  be  her  noble  lover!"  said  the 
hermit,  quickly. 

"Take  him  prisoner  with  tenderness,"  added 
Joseph;  muttering:  "If  it  be  Armand,  he  will 
come  only  if  he  is  so  disposed!" 

While  the  servant,  with  great  cunning  and 
prudence,  plunged  into  the  bushes  and  by  a 
circuit  approached  the  suspicious  spot,  the  two 
watching  him,  the  elder  observed  to  the  other: 

"As  his  Grace  renounced  his  rights,  all  au- 
thority devolves  on  Armand — we  must  be  heed- 
ful how  we  deal  with  him.  The  case  is  altered 
from  how  it  stood  when  I  ventured  to  summon 
the  Lord  Bishop." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  25 

"It  little  matters.    Sec,  it  is  not  he,  brother!" 

The  speaker  seemed  relieved  by  the  discov- 
ery. 

The  man  whom  the  tall  Laubardemont 
dragged  at  arm's  length,  reminding  one  of  a 
cup-and-ball,  was  short,  thickset,  jolly,  but 
with  that  astuteness  in  which  the  dullest  peas- 
ant acquired  some  training,  at  a  period  when 
he  was  plundered,  flayed  and  scourged  by  the 
host  of  rapacity:  tax-farmers  and  their  myrmi- 
dons, his  lord/ other  lords,  temporal  or  spirit- 
ual, the  city  toll-keeper,  the  market-officer,  the 
road-minder,  all,  in  a  word,  above  his  state. 

He  grinned  upon  being  hauled  before  the 
two,  sitting  on  rocks  like  the  Druids. 

"It  is  not  my  lord,  but  the  question  is  still 
burning,"  said  Simon;    "it  is  his  man." 

"Jean  Laffemas!"  exclaimed  Joseph  du  Trem- 
blay.  "Another  absconder!  Scamp,  what  are 
you  doing  away  from  your  regiment?" 

"At  least,  you  have  your  written  leave?" 
added  the  hermit. 

"I— I—" 

"Come,  no  lies!"  said  the  two  examiners  in 
unison. 

Laubardemont  had  released  his  hold  of  his 
surcoat,  which  hid  a  kind  of  uniform,  the  royal 
blue,  barred  with  the  colors  of  Richelieu,  and 
Laffemas  stood  up  to  his  full  height  of  five  feet 
or  less.  He  crumpled  his  moleskin  cap  in  one 
fat  hand  and  pulled  at  a  shaggy  shining  fore- 
lock with  the  other,  as  a  compromise  between 
a  military  salute  and  a  reverence  to  his  spirit- 
ual fathers. 

"To  tell  the  truth,  I  heard  that  my  wife  is  in 
a  delicate  condition — " 

The  Capuchin  inquiringly  glanced  at  his  col- 
league, who  nodded  reluctantly.    Then  the  hit- 


26      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

ter  shook  his  head  and  frowned,  implying  that 
he  did  not  believe  the  servant. 

"Some  recruits  who  joined  us,  from  Osier- 
sur-la-Marle,  thej  said  she  rolled  on  the  bed, 
crying  out  for  her  dear  Jean  Norbert,  her  hus- 
band, from  whom  the  cruel  war  parted  her!" 
and  Laffemas,  pulling  down  his  round  face,  af- 
fected to  brush  away  tears. 

"This  is  a  flimsy  excuse — " 

"My  wife  halloaing  for  me  a  flimsy  excuse — 
you  have  not  lately  heard  or  seen  my  wife, 
Father  Joseph !  she  was  the  Hop-o'-my-Thumb 
of  the  village  when  I  was  made  to  marry  her, 
eighteen  months  ago,  at  the  same  time  almost 
as  Pierre  Laubardemont  here  present  was 
obliged  to  take  Josseline  in  wedlock — " 

The  other  servant  made  a  wry  face. 

"It  was  on  the  list  so — though  perhaps  we . 
should  have  fared  no  worse  had  Lau.  preceded 
Laf.   on   the   marquis'    roll   of  the   marriage- 
able—" 

"Be  referent — the  marquis  is  no  more!" 

"Dear  me!  the  lord,  dead?  how  did — " 

"Your  lord  is  your  master,  Count,  now  the 
Marquis  Armand!" 

"Whew!"  The  fat  mouth  pursed  up  to  whis- 
tle in  surprise.  Then  he  became  portentously 
grave. 

"So,  you  bear  a  message  from  the  new  mar- 
quis? out  with  it — we  know  this  to  be  so!" 

"But — I — that  is — my  lord  the  lord  over  all 
the  place,  so  young  and  yet  enjoys  the  chateau, 
the  farms,  the — " 

"Seize  him  and  search  him  for  a  letter!"  said 
Joseph. 

"Never!"  said  Laffemas.  "That  is,  I  will  not 
submit  to  that  lout  Laubardemont  promenad- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  27 

ing  with  his  bony  fingers  over  me!    His  blood- 
less paw  always  gives  the  shivers!" 

"(live  up  the  message  you  bear,  or  be  flog- 
ged!" 

Joseph  brandished  his  rope.  At  the  sight  of 
the  knotted  ends,  Laffemas  sighed. 

"Yon  are  witness.  Father  Simon,  that  I  am 
commanded  by  one,  under  Grace,  set  over  me! 
here  goes!"  He  pulled  a  folded  and  sealed  pa- 
per, bound  with  rosy  ribbon,  out  of  a  secret 
flap  in  his  half-boot. 

"You  would  not  have  thought  of  looking 
there,  you  oaf!"  he  jibingly  said  to  his  fellow 
servant.  "We  learn  these  arts  in  the  army — 
which  you  were  too  much  of  a  poltroon  to 
join!"  Then  he  whined:  "I  trust  you  will  bear 
me  out  when  my  lord  reprimands  me  for  false- 
ness in  my  trust.  Yes,  I  am  a  false  servant: 
I  am  not  accomplishing  my  business.  Believe 
me,  gentlemen,  the  count  made  me  swear  on 
the  crosshilt  of  my  knife — a  foresworn  blade, 
though,  for  I  learnt,  in  the  army,  to  eat  meat 
on  a  fast-day  with  it!  I  swore  to  eat  this  mes- 
sage before  I  wrongly  delivered  it;  but  it  would 
be  a  choking  mouthful!  Laconic  love,  for- 
sooth!" 

Before  he  had  finished  this  apology  for  his 
weakness,  the  grey  monk  had  snatched  the 
packet  he  held  gingerly,  and  stepped  within 
the  hermitage,  it  being  now  too  dark  to  read 
without  artificial  light. 

Nothing  was  changed  there  since  his  last 
visit :  for  he  found  the  bottle  in  which  live 
sulphur  was  kept,  and  with  a  primitive  match 
ignited  a  torch  of  fat  pine,  stuck  up  before  a 
cross,  carved  in  the  jutting  rock. 

He  returned,  with  his  head  drawn  still  far- 
ther back  in  his  cowl. 


28      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"You  were  right,"  he  said  to  the  hermit.  "It 
is  he,  and,  worse  than  you  imagined,  he  pro- 
poses to  make  the  engagement  with  the  girl 
binding  before  Mother  Church!" 

Though  base-born  and,  consequently,  it 
would  be  thought,  delighted  at  the  young  Rich- 
elieu taking  the  honorable  step,  the  holy  as- 
cetic frowned. 

"It  must  not  be!"  exclaimed  he,  hotly. 

"Never!  it  was  madness  before!  now  that  he 
is  the  marquis — we  should  be  fools  to  wink  at 
it!" 

Joseph  cogitated,  his  course  of  thoughts  im- 
possible to  follow  in  the  double  darkness  of 
the  evening  and  his  hood. 

The  two  servants  looked  askant  at  each  oth- 
er. Simon  lowered  his  grey  brows  and  watched 
the  Capuchin  under  them. 

"I  have  it,"  said  the  latter.  "There  is  no 
such  place  for  a  young  girl  to  come  to  her  right 
mind  as  in  a  nunnery — " 

The  hermit  lifted  his  head  and  shook  it  en- 
ergetically. 

"The  Convent  of  the  Austere  Sisters  at  Mont- 
glavis  shall  receive  her — " 

"Nay,"  aaid  the  other  eagerly,  "not  the  black, 
blank,  cold  cloisters  for  a  child!  she  must  be 
loving,  above  her  station,  to  enfold  the  affec- 
tions of  a  youth  like  that!  do  not  think  to  im- 
mure her  in  such  sepulchral  walls!" 

"Are  those  of  the  tomb  preferable?"  coldly 
answered  Joseph. 

"Why  need  she  die — why  die  a  living  death 
within  a  nunnery?  she  is  so  young — so  tender, 
and  has  always  been  a  model  to  her  sisters!" 

"You  plead  very  warmly  for  her,  Simon!" 

"Because — because  she  is  my  grandchild! 
There,  you  know  all." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  29 

"The  holy  man  of  the  Castle  Hill,  father  of 
that  girl's  mother!    Miseracordal" 

"It  is  true!  but  too  long  a  story  for  this  hour. 
Her  mother  was  not,  as  was  given  out,  a  babe 
dropped  on  the  highway  by  the  Bohemians, 
but  a  child  I  had  brought  out  of  Spain,  by  a 
nurse.  She  grew  up  with  her  foster-mother  and 
loved  her  son.  They  were  happy  till  death  re- 
moved them,  under  my  eyes.  It  was  a  proof,  I 
took  it,  that  heaven  had  overlooked — I  do  not 
say,  pardoned  my  sin!" 

"Heresy!  heaven  never  overlooks — rarely 
pardons!" 

"But  you  are  human — you  will  pardon — par- 
don her!  am  I  to  go  on  my  knees,  hardened  by 
those  rocks,  my  only  praying-desk — to  implore 
pity  for  that  child? — " 

"Where  will  she  be  safer,  from  him — now  a 
lord,  with  purse  well-filled,  thanks  to  my  own 
stewardship,  than  in  the  grave  or  the  con- 
vent?" 

"I  know  not!" 

"Nor  I!   but  she  must  not  see  him  again!" 

-What  did  he  write  to  her?" 

"The  usual  flowery  talk  of  the  springtide  of 
man.  At  twenty  any  woman  is  beloved,  as  long 
as  she  has  blue  eves  and  sunnv  hair,  where 
most  of  the  women  are  dark,  or  vice  versa! 
The  young  man  is  moody  and  his  heart  trust- 
ful. Wait  till  he  comes  to  his  thirtieth  year!" 
Joseph  let  his  hood  fall  back,  and  his  eyes 
started  out  and   were  lustrous. 

"Yes,  the  flame  is  more  intense  then!"  said 
the  hermit.  "The  flame  is  one  to  bask  in  until 
he  is  forty,  and  the  decline  begins!  I  have 
known  the  winter  of  love,  and  you,  Joseph,  the 
summer — oh,  for  that  memorv,  be  lenient  to 
my  poor  grandchild!" 


30  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

The  valets  were  men  of  blunt  sensibilities, 
but  they  shuddered  to  see  the  white  bearded 
man  clasp  his  hands  in  entreaty  to  the  Capu- 
chin, although  the  words  of  the  appeal  had  not 
reached  them. 

"Let  her  live,  then,  with  an  emptied  heart,  to 
weep  over  the  past  illusion!"  said  the  latter, 
wavering.    "With  time,  all  passes!" 

He  pressed  his  forehead  as  though  to  smooth 
out  something  rugged  in  his  mind. 

"When  love  sends  no  more  rays  to  her  soul, 
her  eyes  will  shed  no  more  tears.  They  must 
part — forever!" 

"I  have  reflected,"  said  Simon,  with  calm- 
ness which  seemed  preternatural  after  the  out- 
burst of  parental  affection.  "Come  into  the 
cell." 

"You,  varlets,  stand  close!"  cried  Joseph 
loudly.  "If  one  tries  to  flee,  the  other  is  ab- 
solved if  he  slay  him!" 

"Both  will  not  flee,"  said  the  hermit  caustic- 
ally, "for  each  was  made  to  wed  the  woman 
that  the  other  courted!  Did  you  notice  that 
their  grief  at  the  marquis's  death  was  over- 
done?" 

The  couple  entered  the  cave,  where  the  torch 
was  revived  by  the  tenant,  who  motioned  his 
colleague  to  be  seated.  Out  of  a  cranny  he 
took  a  phial  of  China  ink  and  reed  pens  which 
he  used  for  glosses  in  his  breviary. 

"I  do  not  want  to  run  off,  now  that  I  am 
at  home,"  said  Laffemas.  "You  may  put  up 
your  cheese-parer,  which  does  not  daunt  me, 
for  I  have  seen  more  terrible  in  the  army! 
Besides,  my  lord  is  the  master  here,  now,  do 
you  see!  since  his  brother  is  no  more!  Is  it 
true,  Pierre ?" 

"True  enough  for  me  to  bring  the  news.    I 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  31 

intended  to  have  carried  it  farther,  to  Bishop 
Alphonse,  but  this  meddling  Capuchin  is  al- 
ways dancing  between  the  Kichelieus  and  the 
outside  world.  But  are  you  not  counting  your 
chicks  too  soon?  Perhaps  the  Bishop's  vows 
are  not  so  binding  on  a  nobleman  that  he  may 
not  break  them,  so  as  to  take  the  reins  from 
that  boy,  himself?" 

"Sooner  the  boy,  though  a  few  months  under 
the  colors  have  made  a  man  of  him — it  does 
improve  one  to  be  in  the  army!  I  get  along 
finely  with  him,  though  he  wants  to  ride  the 
high  horse." 

"1  like  him  best — but  what  are  the  two 
priests  doing  in  the  cave,  like  wizards  calling 
up  the  Prince  of  Darkness?" 

"A  pretty  simile  for  holy  men,  you  pagan! 
But,  if  I  may  venture  my  nose,  one  is  writing 
as  the  other  dictates.  Shrew  them!  I  never 
see  pen  and  paper  but  I  think  men  are  raising 
a  devil  that  will  not  be  easily  downed!" 

Placing  the  writing  materials  before  Joseph, 
seated  at  a  smooth-topped  rock  which  might 
pass  for  a  table,  the  hermit  said: 

"With  that  letter  of  Armand's  as  a  model, 
you — with  your  skill  in  caligraphy,  which  made 
the  Abbot  Ugone  remark  you  at  an  early  age — 
you  can  write  another  missive  which  that  trai- 
tor shall  deliver.  It  will  bid  her  go  to  meet 
her  lover  at  Blois." 

"Why  Blois?" 

''Because  Mother  Laffemas  is  there,  in  a  lit- 
tle house  in  the  environs.  She  was  accused, 
with  a  band,  you  may  remember,  of  poaching, 
and,  between  us,  she  kept  the  deersmeat  till 
the  higgler  came  to  transport  it  to  their  secret 
market.  But  she  is  a  good  soul  and  will  do 
anything  for  me,  since  I  saved  her  neck." 


32  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"If  you  can  trust  your  grand-daughter  to 
her,  I  can  trust  my  honor,"  returned  the  monk. 

He  set  the  letter  before  him,  mused  for  a 
space  and  then  wrote  at  a  dash  ("as  all  good 
forgeries  must  be  executed,"  he  said,  with  a 
deep  smile)  a  page  of  about  the  same  length. 
From  "At  the  Camp,"  to  "Yours  ever  fondly, 
ARMAND,"  all  had  no  flaw  in  the  critical 
sight  of  Simon,  comparing  the  writings. 

"Bind  with  the  same  ribbon  and  seal  with 
the  Bishop's  seal  bearing  the  family  arms," 
said  he. 

As  his  confederate  finished,  he  went  to  the 
doorway  and  called: 

"Laffemas!" 

The  man  came  up  with  a  lagging  step,  timor- 
ous. 

"Your  master  loves  a  lass  here.  He  writes 
to  her  mere  sugary  lines  which  give  no  intelli- 
gence.    What  did  he  purpose  regarding  her?" 

"I  am  not  in  his  confidence — that  is — "  for 
he  saw  by  the  torchlight  that  his  interrogator 
frowned  ominously.  "I  guess  that  he  wants 
her  to  elope  with  him!  the  camp  is  full  of  for- 
lorn damsels — " 

"Enough!  that  will  serve.  Jean,  you  are  dy- 
ing to  see  your  wife?" 

"My  poor,  dear  wife!"  He  suddenly  wrung 
his  hands  hypocritically. 

"But  you  want  to  see  your  mother  sooner! 
You  are  a  good  son!" 

"My  mother?  who  is  in  jail  for  deer-stealing? 
of  course,  I  should  like  to  see  my  old  mother — 
but—" 

"Listen.  Take  this  letter  to  Ramire,  in  her 
cottage.  When  she  reads  it,  conduct  her  to 
the  inn  where  the  deer-stealers  were  arrested. 
The  hostess  is  still  at  large,  but  has  returned, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  33 

thinking  the  breeze  has  blown  over.  Tell  her 
that  Father  Simon  ensures  her  impunity  if  she 
will  obey  him  now.  She  will  find  you  two 
horses  for  a  journey — " 

"What  journey,  father?" 

"One  to  be  undertaken  in  the  name  of  your 
master  the  Count-Bishop  Alphonse,  for  whom 
I  act  and  speak." 

"Good  Lord,  a  journey,  sir!  and  me  fresh 
from  hard  riding,  and,  by  the  same  mark!  sore, 
sir,  deep-seatedly  sore — " 

"Interrupt  again,  and  I  shall  send  Laubarde- 
mont  on  this  errand!  and  you,  to  the  galleys!" 

That  the  hermit  was  of  kin  to  the  ruling  fam- 
ily was  nobody's  secret  and  the  fat  man  shiv- 
ered, like  jelly  on  a  hot  platter. 

He  took  the  letter  which  Joseph  brought  out 
to  him,  and  bowed  with  the  utmost  submission, 
as  the  recluse  said: 

"Place  the  girl  on  one  horse — mount  the  oth- 
er, and  ride  without  haste,  so-so,  steadily,  to 
Blois.  At  a  cottage  in  the  outskirts,  near  the 
hostelry  of  the  Branch  of  May,  lives  your 
mother." 

"Not  in  jail?" 

"Not  in  jail,  thanks  to  me,  but  he  who  kept 
her  out  of  it  can  put  you  in  her  vacant  cell! 
Tell  her  that  this  is  the  girl  who  is  to  accom- 
pany her  to  the  East  Indies!" 

"But  if  she  will  not  go—?" 

"She  must  go!  never  in  the  village  did  any- 
one resist  3^ou  and  your  mother  in  combina- 
tion!   She  must  go!   and  you  with  them!" 

"I,  father,  to  the  Indies?  a  pagan  country, 
and  I  never  failed  in  my  religious  duties!" 

"You  can  say  your  prayers  under  the  sky 
along  the  broad  Ganges  as  well  as  by  your  rivu- 
let.   This  must  be.    Be  within  France  this  time 


34      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

three  weeks,  and  you,  your  mother  and  the  girl 
will  all  be  behind  the  bars!" 

Jean  shuddered  and  stammered. 

"But  a  journey  like  that — it  will  cost  huge- 
ly!" 

"Therefore,"  interposed  Joseph,  "Laubarde- 
mont  will  take  you  the  abundant  means  in  a 
day  or  two.  Besides,  you  can  sell  the  horses  at 
the  seaport  for  swelling  of  your  purse." 

Laffemas  bowed  again,  heaving  a  sigh 
though,  which  made  the  two  start  angrily. 

"I  am  thinking  of  my  poor  wife — without  an 
adieu!"  explained  he. 

"Go,  hypocrite!" 

Scarcely  was  he  lost  in  the  gloom  than  Si- 
mon beckoned  Laubardemont  within  the  ray  of 
light  from  the  hermitage. 

"Follow  your  fellow!  he  is  going  to  Ramire's 
cottage.  If  he  leaves  it  with  her,  return  and 
tell  the  tale.  If  he  leaves  it  alone,  follow  him 
until  he  joins  his  master — at  the  camp  or  else- 
where." 

"The  camp  is  far,  and  'elsewhere'  may  be 
still  farther,"  muttered  the  valet,  with  his  dor- 
mant insolence  re-awakened. 

"Here  is  a  purse  of  silver.  Wait!  Make  sure 
that  he  is  going  to  accost  his  master.  Then 
cut  him  down  and  silence  him  so  that  not  a 
syllable  enlightens  Count  Armand  upon  what 
passed  here." 

"He  may  strike  back;  he  can  play  with  cud- 
gel and  cabbage-cutter,  as  I  know  from  being 
pitted  against  him  in  our  village  sports." 

"The  Bishop  will  salve  your  weals." 

"But  my  spiritual  weal — he  may  kill  me  be- 
fore I  can  repent?" 

"The  Bishop  will  secure  you  a  lot  in  Para- 
dise." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  3o 

The  iiuin  made  a  sour  face,  but  humorously 
so  that  the  grim  mouk  called  him  a  heathen 
uot  unkindly,  and  bade  him  go! 

Joseph  remained  on  the  hill,  which  point 
gave  him  a  view  of  the  manor  beneath  the 
straggling  "lamb-kill"  laurels  and  the  odorifer- 
ous sweet  bays. 

In  the  cell  the  recluse  was  letting  the  torcl; 
die  down  without  offering  to  revive  it. 

"His  grandchild,"  mused  the  Capuchin,  shuf- 
fling in  the  sand  with  his  leather  shoe  as  if 
obliterating  some  trace.  ''It  is  not  strange;  I 
had  remarked  her  vast  superiority  to  her  sta- 
tion. Look  to  what  unhappiness  education 
brings  the  peasant!'' 

His  grey  dress  merged  with  the  thickening 
fog,  but  he  sat  impervious  to  the  damp. 

'•It  must  not  be,"  said  he,  frowning  terribly, 
"Armand  in  love  is  confusion  to  my  design — 
to  my  aspiration  and  what  shall  be  his.  I  need 
this  promising  youth  as  one  to  lean  upon  while 
I  climb  the  hill.  If  he  is  made  Prime  Minister 
over  France,  and  France  is  made  foremost  in 
Christendom,  in  sheer  gratitude  he  must  assist 
me  to  my  goal !" 

Over  the  plain,  towards  the  chateau,  under 
the  oaks  and  elms,  a  light  suddenly  danced 
out,  as  if  borne  by  Friar  Rush,  lint  it  was  a 
lantern  carried  by  Laubardemont,  though  he 
risked  to  advertise  his  movements,  but  he 
deemed  that  preferable  to  stumbling  into  a 
ditch  and  breaking  neck  or  limb. 

On  seeing  him  ascend,  Joseph  rose  and 
blocked  his  path,  whereupon  the  lantern-bearer 
saluted  him  and  said,  breathlessly: 

"Please  you,  he  has  gone,  with  the  lass." 
"Good!  Hie  you  into  the  mansion  and  satisfy 
your    prodigious    appetite — but  not  a  breath 


36      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

about  the  marquis'  disaster!  Let  his  corpse 
announce  the  dread  tidings!  You  said  the 
body  was  on  the  last  march?" 

"It  might  have  caught  up  with  me,  for  the 
mules  to  the  litter  were  excellent,  and  as  the 
commander  of  the  escort  is  a  military  man  no 
time  would  be  lost." 

"Go;  and  lay  you  down  to  sleep,  too,  if  you 
can!" 

Pleased  to  be  quit  of  the  novel  duties  im- 
posed upon  him  this  evening,  the  Capuchin's 
man  left  his  lantern,  on  the  sign  to  do  so,  and 
trudged  off  as  briskly  as  he  dared  without  a 
guide  for  his  feet. 

"As  the  girl  is  now  on  the  route  to  be 
shipped  to  the  Indies,"  said  Joseph  coolly,  "I 
will  see  that  the  port-captains  are  notified  of 
the  necessity  to  expedite  her  transportation. 
My  friends  on  the  Admiralty  Board  will  oblige 
me  there.  This  is  all  less  burdensome  than  to 
manage  Armand.  How  will  he  take  an  action 
counter  to  his  inclination?  how,  indeed?  There 
are  some  trees  which  will  not  be  bent  askew 
even  in  their  sapling  state!  As  a  child,  he  was 
difficult  to  turn  as  a  bull-calf." 

Hooking  his  lean  finger  in  the  lantern's  iron 
ring,  he  went  up  to  the  cave.  With  his  head 
on  his  folded  arms,  seated,  and  wrapped  up 
in  his  gown,  Simon  slumbered — or  he  might  be 
hiding  tears. 

The  monk  paused,  before  arousing  him,  to 
give  a  last  look  at  the  scene.  The  mists  had 
risen  to  this  level,  so  that  he  could  peer  under 
their  stratum  and  see  as  far  as  the  house 
ground-floor.  From  kitchen  and  refectory  the 
stream  of  light  showed  that  the  domestics  were 
at  supper. 

"The  next  feast  will  be  the  funeral  one;  but 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  37 

the}'  will  regale  just  the  same.  A  change  of 
lord — a  change  of  yoke!" 

Pierre  Laubardemont's  tall  figure  stood  up 
like  a  perpendicular  bar  on  his  nearing  the 
window  glare. 

"Though  he  is  ready  to  burst  with  the  news, 
he  durst  not  let  it  out,"  continued  the  Capu- 
chin, "after  my  admonition.  Indeed,  his  en- 
trance makes  no  difference  in  the  mirthful  clat- 
ter— no  lowering  of  the  lights." 

As  he  turned  round,  at  last,  to  address  his 
friend,  a  moving  speck  in  the  horse-chestnut 
vista  met  his  sight. 

"A  rider!"  exclaimed  he.  "A  courier  of  the 
funeral,  preceding  the  corpse?  No,  this  would 
not  be  the  proper  road.  This  rider  diverges 
into  the  forest,  too!  Thus  rides  a  highway- 
man, not  desirous  to  be  seen.  I  lose  sight  of 
him  now!     Confusion!    Hark." 

A  horse  whinnied;  those  in  the  stables  an- 
swered.   A  dog  or  two  whimpered,  interested. 

"The  animals  knowing  him — he  is  no  strang- 
er here — at  least  his  steed  is  not.  Ha!  it  is 
towards  the  Burnt  Wood  that  the  shadow 
steals — scarcely  does  his  cap  overtop  the  sparse 
brush!  That  is  a  plumed  hat,  not  a  servant's 
cap!  metal  flashes  about  his  person — it  is  a 
soldier  under  that  horseman's  cloak.  He  stops! 
It  is  to  tie  up  his  horse.  He  is  traversing  the 
woods,  in  the  murk,  free  as  a  phantom!  odd, 
in  a  cavalier,  booted  and  spurred!" 

With  wondrous  vision,  straining  it,  he  noted 
these  facts,  and  concluding  that  he  might  be 
seen  likewise,  he  put  out  his  lantern  light. 

"This  cavalier  is  making  for  Rar. lire's  cot- 
tage. It  cannot  be  Laffemas,  who  has  let  her 
slip  and  hunts  back  to  recapture!  Nay,  nay! 
it  is  another  and  quicker-stepping — taller  and 


38      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

more  slender  man!  Depend  on  it,  it  is  that 
boy!  Armand,  distrustful  of  his  envoy,  or 
merely  eager  to  confirm  the  fatal,  extravagant 
promise  he  advanced." 

He  rapidly  thrust  in  his  head  at  the  door- 
way. 

"Alerta,  Simon!  I  must  run  to  Ramire's  cot 
to  see  that  she  has  certainly  departed." 

"Yes,"  replied  the  hermit  faintly,  without 
other  token  that  he  breathed. 

Joseph  girded  up  his  frock  with  the  rope, 
felt  that  his  sandals  were  firm,  and  dashed  in- 
to the  furze  as  fearlessly  as  a  Highlander.  He 
remembered  if  he  could  not  discern  the  path 
amid  boulder  and  briar,  for  he  had  often  wan- 
dered over  all  this  tract  when  he  was  instruct- 
ing the  Bishop  of  Lueay  for  his  functions  and 
teaching  botany  to  Armand's  sister  Nicole  be- 
fore she,  too,  took  holy  orders. 

He  was  first  to  reach  the  cottage,  for  he 
heard  the  stranger  crashing  through  the  under- 
wood, more  impatient  to  arrive  than  he  had 
been. 

"I  am  in  time,"  gasped  he;  "now,  master 
yourself,  Joseph!  If  this  be  our  hothead  one 
will  need  superhuman  coolness  and  some  in- 
genious falsehoods." 

On  touching  the  cottage  door,  he  found  it 
ajar. 

"They  left  in  haste,"  thought  he. 

"Miserable  hovel!"  as  he  struck  his  head 
against  the  low  door-top.  "If  Simon  be  a  pro- 
phet in  agreeing  with  the  Bishop  and  me  that 
Armand  is  destined  for  the  State  helmsman, 
then,  what  a  mean  place  for  the  future  of 
France  to  be  decided  in!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  39 


CHAPTER  III. 

A  LIE  AGAINST   LOVE. 

The  junior  lieutenant  of  the  Richelieu  Regi- 
ment, in  Piedmont,  Armand  Duplessis,  was  im- 
patient, overbearing,  impetuous,  overflowing 
with  ingenious  suggestions  and  novel  ideas  dis- 
arranging his  superiors'  equanimity;  good  old 
warriors  they,  who  had  burned  out  their  fires 
under  Henry  the  Fourth,  and  now  asked  no 
fiercer  warfare  than  long  sieges  and  comfort- 
able winter  quarters. 

So  he  chafed  at  the  rebukes  and  chilly  re- 
ception of  his  best  conceptions  and  as  his  heart 
became  surcharged  with  first  love  memories, 
this  youth  of  twenty  oftener  sighed  for  home 
than  for  entrance  into  the  town  before  which 
the  army  sat. 

"Homesick!"  said  one  veteran.  "Heartsick!" 
said  another,  who  had  bovs  of  his  own  in  the 
camp. 

"That  lad,"  said  a  keener  observer,  "will  not 
long  be  a  slave  to  any  passion,  even  the  master 
one.  He  is  born  to  over-rule,  to  lord  it,  to 
tyrannize!" 

"Camp-fever!"  pronounced  the  surgeons  who 
flew  to  bleed  him. 

He  had  become  so  truly  a  thorn  in  their  side, 
with  his  irritating  hints  and  pieces  of  advice, 
inherent,  gathered  from  reading,  or  learnt  of 
his  father,  the  League  Captain,  that  all  hailed 
his  asking  home-leave  for  two  months,  and  it 
was  gladly  signed  and  countersigned  as  if  he 
were  their  messenger  of  victory. 


40      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"If  he  lives,  and  does  not  get  his  pate  cracked 
for  thrusting  his  sword  into  every  medley,"  said 
a  greybeard  artillerist,  "he  will  be  the  crown- 
ing marplot  and  stirrer-up  of  innumerable  in- 
trigues. He  wants  to  make  a  cannon  of  steel! 
as  if  iron  was  not  good  enow  for  the  blun- 
dering cannoneers  of  our  times!  steel  for  hal- 
berd-heads and  swords — but  for  great  guns! 
malapert!" 

"Malapert!  he  should  be  a  wasp  at  court!" 
said  the  chief  surgeon.  "He  besought  me  not 
to  give  hopeless  cases  stimulants  that  they  may 
dictate  messages  home  or  will  their  property — 
but  opiates,  so  that  they  may  pass  through  an 
unnatural  sleep  into  the  natural  one  of  death! 
As  well  be  Chinese!" 

So  Arniand  had  ridden  off  with  an  ironical 
"Good  cheer!"  all  alone,  as  he  had  despatched 
his  lackev-orderlv  some  davs  in  advance,  but 
he  heeded  not  the  pillagers  who  hung  about 
the  town  and  camp  and  fell  upon  either  side  in- 
differently. 

But  the  young  man,  in  his  cuirass  over  the 
buff  jerkin,  his  rapier  clanking  on  his  boot,  his 
protruding  holsters — which  had  a  bottle  of 
Spanish  wine  in  one  and  not  the  companion 
pistol — his  martial  mien,  inherited,  for  this 
trait  had  skipped  Alphonse — the  early  melan- 
choly which  converted  his  face  into  a  mask  of 
bronze,  and  his  daring  of  the  solitary — all 
looked  a  tough  morsel  to  the  sharks  of  the 
land,  and  not  once  was  there  raised  the  cry  of 
"Stand,  for  your  life!" 

It  was  he  whom  Joseph  saw  dimly  riding 
into  his  family  manor,  but  avoiding  his  fath- 
er's home. 

He  strode  into  the  woods,  as  had  been  seen, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  41 

after  attaching  his  charger  to  a  tree  in  a  beech 
glade  well  known  to  him. 

So  light  is  The  sanguine  lover's  step,  that  he 
did  not  feel  as  impediments  his  weighty  boots, 
which  the  mud  of  Touraine  made  still  more 
heavy,  or  the  huge  spurs. 

The  wood  was  as  dark  as  silent.  In  the  like 
darkness  was  plunged  the  house,  but  from  the 
lower  part  came  a  subdued  hum  of  gaiety 
which  made  Armand  sadly  smile. 

"All  is  well  under  the  dear  roof!"  thought 
he.  "Nobody  is  at  home,  I  gather  from  the 
jollity.  The  menials  would  not  carry  on  un- 
der that  press  of  canvas  if  Alphonse  the  Saint- 
ly or  Henri  the  Blustering  were  there.  The 
priestly  brother  will  wax  fat  in  time  in  some 
pleasantly  located  monastery  where  the  trout 
stream  runs  through  the  kitchen  and  the  woods 
are  full  of  fat  bucks;  and  the  fiery  marquis 
will  break  his  neck,  leaping  out  of  a  boudoir 
— reprobate  that  he  is!  though  I  say  it!  Am 
I  to  succeed  them?  It  looks  so  fated!  What 
kind  of  a  master  do  the  domestics  forecast  of 
me?  Laffemas  does  not  like  me,  and  I 
suspect  he  is  roguish.  I,  the  master!  I,  a 
boy — but  stop!  a  boy  is  hardly  a  boy  on  the 
verge  of  the  great,  deep  sea,  Matrimony,  if 
not  yet  a  man!" 

He  stopped,  forced  to  retreat  or  cut  his  way 
through  a  mass  of  briar,  ivy  and  vines,  where 
a  new  thought  struck  him,  for  he  said,  like 
one  who  indulged  in  soliloquy  because  he 
rarely  found  a  meet  confidant: 

"What  will  the  county  families  say  to  this 
new  countess,  sprung  up  like  a  wild  flower  in 
their  midst?  What  priest  will  dare  wed  us — 
certainly  not  one  of  their  chaplains!  I  sup- 
pose the  Holy  Father  would  recall  my  father's 


42  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

services  on  the  wrong  side  and  never  allow  a 
special  mandate!" 

He  laughed  lightly  enough  but  arousing  an 
owlet,  which  wailed  pitifully  at  the  disturb- 
ance; this  mock  echo  made  him  shudder. 

"But  Simon  would  run  the  risk!  What  risk 
to  one  who  lives  regardless  of  the  world?  He 
likes  the  girl — he  instructed  her  so  that  I  am 
often  astonished  at  her  conversation.  I  will 
have  recourse  to  him  if  Alphonse  will  not  fas- 
ten the  tie!  She  shall  be  another's — never!  by 
my  name!" 

He  shivered  again;  it  seemed  to  him  that  a 
bloody  sword — his  eldest  brother's,  shot  across 
the  path  he  was  clearing. 

"Henri  is  rigid  on  such  points!" 

He  hewed  a  way  to  where  the  woodcutters 
had  made  a  track  with  their  more  powerful 
bill-hooks. 

"Shame!  They  have  been  felling  the  ma- 
jestic trees  again!"  he  grumbled,  irritated  by 
the  thorns  which  bristled  on  him.  "Henri  has 
wanted  more  money!  What  an  aroma  of  dead 
leaves — what  splinters  which  the  faggot- 
binders  disdained!  How  our  poor  soldiers 
freezing  in  camp  would  like  these  chips!  Yes, 
here  is  a  large  fire,  like  a  plot  in  Tophet,  where 
the  noble  giants'  remains  were  consumed! 
The  blackened  stumps  flourish  their  maimed 
arms  like  the  slaughtered  monsters  in  chival- 
ric  poems!  That  spendthrift  Henri  will  never 
be  cured  by  Alphonse's  sermons  or  the  sager 
Father  Joseph's  monitions.  Those  splendid 
oaks  have  been  transmuted  by  a  necromancer- 
money-lender  into  gewgaws  for  a  court  beauty's 
bedizenment!  If  Alphonse  had  the  cutting, 
we  should  be  little  the  better,  as  Father  Jo- 
seph would  have  taken  his  share  for  a  refuge 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  43 

or  retreat  for  misanthropes.  He  hates  man 
and  woman!  never  should  I  beg  him  to  marry 
me  and  Kami  re!" 

A  great  mass  of  blackness  loomed  up,  shut- 
ting out  the  prospect. 

"I  suppose  my  man  has  delivered  my  mes- 
sage, which  was  calculated  to  lift  that  poor 
girl  to  rapture.  He  will  be  at  home,  sleeping, 
forgetting  his  master,  probably  braving  the 
camp  fevers!  But  she  will  not  sleep  well! 
Nevertheless,  it  was  an  old  agreement  with 
Laffemas  that  he  should  wait  every  night  when 
I  was  due,  under  that  giant  hornbeam,  for  an 
hour  after  nine." 

The  shadow  was  that  of  a  wide-reaching  tree, 
monopolising  a  hundred  feet  on  all  sides. 

"That  defied  the  axe!  Good!"  He  whistled 
three  times,  as  one  calls  for  the  gamekeeper 
to  finish  the  wounded  deer. 

"No  answer?" 

He  sounded  a  repeater-watch,  which  would 
have  denoted  his  degree,  had  any  one  heard  its 
tinkle. 

"He  forgot  the  agreement,  or  stole  away 
frightened  in  the  dark  wood.  Norbert  is  no 
hero.  He  wanted  to  go  with  me,  afraid  of  the 
brigands.  But  these  sneaking  varlets  get 
through  where  a  brave  man  fails.  At  more 
than  one  place  they  told  me  my  groom  had 
ridden  on." 

Contrary  to  his  age  and  disposition,  misgiv- 
ings burdened  him;  but  he  ascribed  The  gloom 
to  that  in  the  night  and  the  hush,  unbroken  in 
this  dense  undergrowth  by  the  even  breeze 
The  air  was  thick  and  slightly  sulphurous.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  forest  fire  smouldered  and  the 
warm  ground  exhaled  mephitic  vapors. 

The  way  had  become  more  smooth  and  fa- 


44  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

miliar.  Though  the  starlight  was  intermit- 
tently veiled  by  streaming  clouds,  he  pushed 
on  rapidly.  No  one  would  believe  he  had  been 
in  the  saddle  all  day. 

He  stopped  before  that  humble  abode  into 
which  Father  LeClerc  du  Tremblay  had  en- 
tered. 

"No  light — as  a  token  that  she  was  notified 
of  my  coming  as  soon  as  possible!"  he  observed 
in  alarm.     "No  rushlight  in  the  window?" 

A  small  animal  tumbled  out  of  a  heap  of 
leaves  and  scuttled  away  into  the  thicket;  a 
pair  of  wood  doves,  usually  passing  the  night 
on  the  rafters  within  doors,  disturbed  in  their 
new  perch  under  the  strawy  eaves  by  his  ap- 
proach, cooed  reproachfully  as  though  he  was 
author  of  their  banishment,  and  fluttered  with 
a  squeaking  sound  in  circles  over  his  head; 
then,  thinking  he  was  one  who  had  fed  them, 
and  bewildered  by  the  dark,  settled  on  his 
shoulders.  He  shook  them  off,  impatient,  an- 
gry! 

"Was  that  her  pet  rabbit,  or  a  hare?  Absit 
omen!  as  we  said  in  college — at  a  hasard!"  said 
he,  trying  to  be  sprightly. 

The  door  was  ajar;  not  remarkable  in  the 
woods,  for  even  in  the  village  few  precautions 
were  taken. 

"I  hear  breathing!"  he  muttered,  taking 
hope;  "she  is  there,  but  slumbering.  Dream- 
ing of  our  re-union,  to  be  made  firm  against  the 
world!     All  is  well,  I  thank  heaven!" 

He  strode  up  to  the  door,  but  stopped  re- 
spectfully. 

"Ramire!  dearest  Ramire!  It  is  I,  Armand! 
Your  Armand!  Returned  more  speedily  than 
I  hoped.    Come  out  to  me!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  45 

No  reply;  and  the  breathing  which  he  had 
certainly  heard,  was  suspended. 

"At  this  hour  she  would  not  be  absent!  Un- 
less— good  angel  that  she  is,  and  an  intelli- 
gent one  to  boot — she  sits  by  the  ailing  moth- 
er's side  or  pining  infant's!  But  I  heard — me- 
thinks  I  hear  breathing!  But  she  could  not 
sleep  through  the  fervent  call  I  made!" 

He  hesitated,  for  with  all  his  ardor,  backed 
by  his  aristocratic  pretensions  which  overrode 
vulgar  scruples,  never  had  he  entered  without 
the  dweller's  invitation. 

"But  I  do  hear  breathing,"  he  said  again,  to 
still  his  objections.     "It  must  be  she!" 

The  countryside  teemed  with  superstitions. 
He  knew  them,  but  had  always  laughed  at 
them  until  now.  Peering  in  at  the  door,  gent- 
ly opened,  he  perceived  a  grey  figure,  shrouded 
like  the  Phantom  Monk,  embodiment  of  all  the 
spirits  of  the  dismantled  abbey.  It  stood  be- 
tween the  bunk-bed  in  the  wall,  and  the  heavy 
table,  silent,  statuesque. 

"It  is  not  Ramire!"  murmured  he;  a  cold- 
ness paralysing  his  heart,  for  it  seemed  to  him 
this  ghostly  one  was  praying  over  the  dead. 

He  shrank  back  on  the  doorstep,  clapping 
his  hand  to  his  rapier,  not  to  use  its  blade  as 
a  weapon  of  physical  defence  but  its  handle 
as  a  cross  to  exorcise  this  apparition. 

"No,"  said  a  voice  he  well  knew  as  his  tu- 
tor's, without  the  speaker  moving,  "it  is  not 
the  peasant  maid,  although  I  believe,  one  whom 
you  love,  Armand!" 

"Love!" 

In  the  ascetic's  mouth,  the  word  seemed  out 
of  place;  almost  offensive  to  the  lover. 

"And  one  who  loves  you,  dear  my  son,  above 
all  persons  and,  it  follows,  above  all  things!" 


46  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

''Father  Joseph!"  exclaimed  the  lieutenant, 
in  the  tone  with  which  Jacob's  persecuted  child 
might  have  said  "my  Brother  Simeon"  or  "my 
Brother  Judah." 

This  was  so  far  from  harmonising  with  his 
own  accent,  and  far  from  reverence,  either  filial 
or  like  a  pupil,  that  the  monk  resented  it,  for 
it  was  reproachfully  that  he  continued: 

"I  reiterate,  one  who  loves  you !  Have  I  not 
proved  that,  and,  particularly,  unto  you!  If 
I  induced  Alphonse  to  enter  the  Church,  it 
was  to  clear  the  way  for  you  to  rise  to  second 
place  in  the  family.  I  kept  you  from  the  same 
in  order  that  you  might  learn  other  matters 
than  are  talked  of  in  the  cloisters.  Alphonse 
is  weak.  For  good  motives,  he  would  fritter 
away  his  portion  of  the  estate  just  as  Henri 
squanders  it — question  of  time  merely!  Rich- 
elieu would  disappear,  all  the  same!  You 
would  have  had  little.  Now,  there  suffices  for 
the  goldenround  in  Fortune's  ladder,  which  so 
elevates  the  aspiring  climber.  Without  know- 
ing what  vou  may  become,  vou  are  readv  for  it. 
By  your  brother's  renunciation  and  the  other's 
death,  you  have  the  means,  as  you  have  the 
tuition,  to  play  the  great  lord  worthily." 

"My  brother — Henri's  death!"  He  leaned 
against  the  doorpost;  his  plumes,  torn  by  the 
twigs,  and  damp  with  dew  brushed  off  them, 
flapping  the  old  wood  with  a  lugubrious  sound. 
"A  lusty  man  like  Henri  die!" 

"Men  pass  away  at  any  age  who  are  un, 
wanted  here.  He  who  brandished  the  sword, 
has  perished  by  it:  Henri  has  been  killed  in  a 
duel." 

"He  that  could  hold  his  own  with  professors 
of  fence!"  he  spoke  incredulously  still.  "I 
doubt  he  was  slain  fairly!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  47 

"Fairly  or  foully,  he  is  slain." 

"Is  it  known  by  whom?     Lot  us  avenge  him [" 

"I  am  a  priest." 

"So  is  Alphonse,  thanks  to  you!  You  are 
right.  You  assigned  mo  the  power  to  fortify 
my  natural  sentiment.  It  is  I  who  must 
avenge!" 

Joseph  held  up  his  bony  hand,  covered  with 
the  parchment  skin  of  ascetics  and  yellow  as 
a  life-prisoner's.  It  seemed  to  gleam  with  a 
serene  light  of  its  own  engendering  in  the  dark, 
like  his  eyes  in  the  hood. 

"Leave  that  to  the  Supreme  Dealer-out  of 
Justice,"  he  solemnly  said. 

Accustomed  to  the  gloom,  both  could  trace 
the  play  of  features. 

Yet  the  windows  wTere  very  small  and  cov- 
ered witli  scraped  horn,  while  the  stars  were 
entirely  blotted  out. 

"It  were  better  so,  perchance,"  said  the  young 
man;  "the  Power  you  bring  in  to  intervene, 
knoweth  that  I  came  not  here  to  draw  the 
sword." 

"But  to  offer  the  marriage-ring!" 

"How  now!"  he  gasped,  breathlessly  as 
though  a  phantom  spoke. 

He  had  always  held  Du  Tremblay  in  awe; 
now  he  was  appalled  by  him. 

"The  blood  may  well  boil  in  your  cheek. 
You  come  from  the  stage  of  honor  to  offer  wed- 
lock to  a  peasant's  child !  I  am  glad  that  heav- 
jn  directed  me — permits  me  to  prevent — " 

"Hold!  Prevent  me!  You  are  a  Du  Trem- 
blay  but  I,  a  Duplessis!     Prevent,  forsooth!" 

"'Dissuade'  is  a  word,  then,  which  should 
not  enflame  your  choler.     I  traveled,  to  learn 

that  you  m  •  >sed 

going* on  to  the  le  ,yuu  from  U^t, 


48      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

fell  design.  Folly!  folly,  at  all  time,  but  since 
you  are  become  the  Marquis  of  Richelieu,  it 
would  be  a  crime  to  your  line,  your  position, 
and  to  the  King  himself,  who  upholds  the 
purity  of  the  patricians.  A  Richelieu  wed  with 
a  Ramire!" 

"Father,  she  is  worthy  of  a  coronet!  Who 
knows?  perhaps  a  worthier  race  had  issued  to 
rejoice  France  from  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  than 
the  Medici:"' 

"Of  unknown  parentage!" 

''Why  may  she  not,  then,  spring  from  a  noble 
stem?" 

"A  Bohemian,  her  mother!" 

"The  Bohemians  are  a  distinct  race;  they 
possess  a  king  and  their  own  nobility:  you 
yourself  taught  me  that  they  are  probably  de- 
scendants, very  unmixed,  of  the  oldest  Oriental 
races.     Her  mother  stood  high  in  the  tribe." 

"I  grant  you  what  you  like  about  her  moth- 
er; that  is  hazy:  but  her  father?" 

"You  know  so  much,  Father  Joseph,"  said 
the  young  man,  entering  and  seating  himself 
on  the  table  edge  in  bravado,  to  undo  the  ef- 
fects of  his  first  trepidation  and  to  try  to  show 
that  he  no  longer  held  his  tutor  in  apprehen- 
sion; "who  is  her  father?'" 

'"An  old  simple  soldier." 

"Bravo!  In  the  wars.  I  learnt  that  bear- 
ing a  sword  handsomely  places  all  on  a  level." 

"One  who  committed  some  crime,  driving 
him  into  seclusion  in  his  natal  village;  dying 
there,  he  abandoned  his  child  to  the  vagrant 
mother.  But  for  a  kinsman  who  snatched  the 
poor  child  from  such  hands — rather  say.  talons 
— after  a  toilsome  hunt,  Ramire  would  be  beg- 
ging or  fortune-telling — running  the  risk  of  a 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  49 

whipping  in  a  corrective  asylum  or  at  the 
cart's-tail !" 

Armand  struck  the  board  furiously  with  his 
fist,  at  imagination  of  such  a  fate  being  pos- 
sible to  his  beloved. 

"You  see  that  her  ancestry  cannot  be  en- 
rolled on  the  Golden  Book  of  this  country," 
sneered  Joseph. 

"It  matters  not.  Mine  is,  or  shall  be.  I  love 
her,  as  one  worships  the  brightest  star  in  the 
incalculable  nebula?,  that  is,  the  one  singled 
out  as  brightest.  What  care  I  for  the  clouds, 
emanations  from  a  bog — this  earth — which  can- 
not tarnish  such  lustre?  In  a  word,  Joseph — 
Father  Joseph,  for  you  have  been  father  and 
brother  to  me  in  my  isolation,  being  one  whom 
no  one  tries  to  comprehend — I  have  pledged — " 

"Tut!''  said  the  Capuchin,  apparently  unaf- 
fected by  the  affectionate  appeal,  "a  promise 
of  that  kind,  from  a  nobleman  to  one  afar  be- 
neath him!  Its  verv  magnitude  makes  it  ridic- 
ulous  and  annuls  it,  like  the  preposterous 
sums  a  madman  promises  out  of  a  moderate 
estate.  Our  courts  are  presided  over  by  sages 
who  do  not  approve  of  vows  extracted  from 
minors  and  lovers,  the  less  when  the  lover  is 
a  minor!" 

"Ramire  is  an  angel,"  cried  Armand,  kissing 
a  hood  which  hung  on  a  wooden  pin,  "and  I 
am  the  Lord  of  Richelieu!" 

"An  angel!  I  pray  that  you  may  meet  her 
next — among  her  kind!" 

The  sarcasm  was  spoken  so  coldly  that  it 
diminished  its  meaning. 

The  lieutenant  jumped  down  and  clenched 
his  fists. 

"What  do  you  mean?  It  is  clear  that  she 
is  gone,  and  that  in  her  stead  stand  you,  of 


50  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

all  men,  who  abominate  woman!  But  you 
would  not  dare,  on  the  land  of  my  fathers — " 

He  divined  that  the  other  was  smiling,  but 
not  with  what  sense. 

"You  would  not  be  so  inhuman  as  to  have 
her  put  away!  In  a  convent,  that  wood-dove! 
You  are  not  a  raven  to  prey  on  the  dove !  You 
would  not  treat  her  so  unkindly  that  she  has 
fallen  ill?  A  sensitive  woodland  flower,  Jo- 
seph! Is  she  ill — dying — do  not  say  that  Ra- 
mire — my  Ramire,  one  and  only — is  no  more!" 

The  monk  leaned  across  the  table  its  whole 
length,  resting  both  hands  on  it;  it  was  the  at- 
titude of  one  lecturing  from  an  unfolded  map 
under  him;  he  looked  into  the  inquiring  eyes 
and  firmly  responded: 

"To  you,  my  poor  Armand,  she  is  dead!  As 
there  was  socially,  now  distance  separates  you 
actually!" 

"A  matter  of  leagues!  As  I  crossed  the 
other  space,  so  will  I  cross  this!  Banished, 
poor  maid?  I  will  rejoin  her.  What  is  a  jour- 
ney, however  long,  when  at  the  goal  is  such 
a  prize?" 

Partly  to  himself  the  Capuchin  observed: 

"There  is  no  cure,  unless  a  master-passion 
swallows  up  this  one,  like  Aaron's  rod  did  the 
magicians'.      Armand,  listen — " 

The  young  man  had  wheeled  round  toward 
the  door  as  if  to  rush  out. 

"You  are  a  peer;  you  may  be  a  duke,  for 
you  are  equipped  for  the  highest  station  as  I 
prepared  you.  You  are  rich ;  for  I  was  reviser 
over  that  treacherous  steward  who  plundered 
your  waste-thrift  brother,  and  I  made  him  dis- 
gorge what  he  had  cunningly  stolen.  Rich  and 
noble,  well-informed,  with  an  inkling  of  war- 
fare, too,  the  course  is  clear  to  you.     But,  as 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  51 

in  that  race  at  Borne,  the  steed  must  be  dis- 
embarrassed of  useless  trappings,  to  win! 
What  more  useless  than  sentiment — love,  ador- 
ation of  mere  beauty?  For  wbat  a  prize — the 
Premiership  over  France — the  France  that  may 
be!" 

"Is  there  happiness,  too?"  asked  the  young 
man,  scoffing. 

"Worship  Ambition!"  continued  the  monk, 
without  noticing  the  interruption.  "Be  her 
slave,  and  she,  more  bounteous  than  Fortune 
herself,  and  less  fickle,  will  fill  your  helm  with 
solid  treasures.  War  would  only  be-laurel  it, 
and  perhaps  dent  it  with  some  cruel  blow  from 
which  the  brain  would  never  recover.  While 
Cupid,  as  you  may  have  seen  in  the  library  that 
picture  by  an  Italian  hand,  makes  it  merely  the 
incense-dish  in  honor  of  Venus!" 

The  young  Richelieu  listened  in  impatience, 
like  a  horse-rider  to  his  master's  instructions, 
while  fretting  to  be  off. 

"Since  Ramire  is  not  dead,"  said  he,  "what 
has  befallen  her?" 

"Can  you  bear  the  truth?" 

"I  have  borne  the  shock  of  meeting  you  in 
her  place!"  was  the  reply,  as  though  he  had 
met  a  satyr  where  a  nymph  was  expected. 

The  Capuchin  did  not  flinch  at  the  uncom- 
plimentary words. 

If  he  were  vindictive  he  knew  that  he  could 
give  a  reprisal  with  sufficient  pain. 

"Could  you  hear  that  she  were  dead?" 

"Dead!  You  are  talking  about  a  child!  A 
lovely  creature  in  faith  and  devotion!  Well, 
she  is  more  fit  for  paradise,  whence  she  came 
straight  to  regale  this  hamlet  than  for  a  world 
where  the  All-merciful's  priest  tortures!  Go 
on,  as  long  as  she  be  not  dead!" 


52      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"She  was  young,  but  since  Satan  is  allowed 
to  rove  this  earth,  he  devours  by  choice  the 
young  and  tender.  This  is  a  world  of  deceit 
wherever  his  kingdom  extends." 

"Do  vou  couple  Raniire  and  deceit?  I  break 
the  foul  bond!" 

"It  is  a  bond  which  will  compress  your  heart 
to  bursting,  I  fear!  Ramire  is  false  to  you, 
just  in  the  way  you  might  have  anticipated." 

"Joseph,  you  go  too  far!  If  you  were  not 
a  priest — " 

"In  our  class,"  slowly  went  on  the  other, 
without  any  shrinking  at  the  anger,  "when  our 
adored  is  suspected,  suspicion  flies  to  alight 
on  our  next  friend,  our  dearest  other-self!  He 
knew  the  flame  if  we  concealed  it — he  fanned 
it  to  enjoy  himself  when  the  radiance  was  at 
the  zenith." 

"I  have  no  confidants,"  replied  Armand, 
proudly,  as  an  eagle  might,  with  speech,  de- 
clare that  he  did  not  soar  in  flocks.  "I  have 
been  brought  up  alone,  you  know.  You  were 
my  sole  companion  till  I  turned  myself  loose, 
disgusted — I  say  it  now — at  your  preaching  for 
the  trampling  of  every  tie  which  trammeled 
man  in  a  planned  pursuit!  At  your  hatred  of 
mankind — or  was  it  solely  womankind?  Hen- 
ri was  always  friendly  as  Alphonse  was  amia- 
ble— I  say  that  for  him,  until  on  my  refusing 
to  accompany  him  on  his  adventures,  a  sort 
of  page  to  carry  posies  and  the  lute  to  a  lady- 
love, he  banished  me  to  the  camp  therefore, 
but  at  your  instigation,  it  appears.  Was  that 
because  I  mocked  at  being  a  choir-boy  to  our 
brother  the  Bishop !  Between  those  two  stools, 
you  would  push  me  down — whither  God 
knows!" 

"To  proceed,"  said  the  monk  with  exasperat- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  53 

ing  calm,  having  patiently  listened  to  this  long 
outburst,  "when  the  sweetheart  is  a  common 
body  and  her  admirer  an  exalted  one,  if  she 
turn  false,  one  at  the  outset  accuses — " 

"For  shame!  Do  not  talk  of  accusing  that 
girl!  She  could  not  be  misled  by  the  Father 
of  Guile  himself!  Why  pause,  when  you  pinch 
me  like  the  Cretan  athlete  iu  the  oak?  Faul- 
ty am  I,  but  at  least,  along  the  River  Loire, 
is  there  a  cavalier  superior  to  Armand?" 

"Who  was  your  go-between?" 

"No  one,  I  tell  you." 

"You  were  on  military  dutv,  Armand;  you 
must  have  sent  her  missives,  tokens,  trophies, 
perhaps!    Appointments  were  made — " 

"Oh,  a  servant,"  contemptuously.  "That  fel- 
low Jean  Laffemas,  the  miller's  boy — " 

"Traditionally,  the  miller  is  a  rogue!  This 
time  his  son  is  one,  surely.     A  notable  sly  fox!" 

"I  chose  him  sly  and  secret  to  keep  my  secret 
close.  True!  moreover,  my  Joseph  who  knows 
little  of  love  matters,  he  is  a  newly-married 
man — he  was  partial  to  a  lover!" 

The  poor  boy  stammered,  too  confused  to  find 
sound  arguments  to  bolster  up  a  tottering 
trust. 

"Married,  perforce,  remember!"  retorted  the 
cold  and  bitter  voice  out  of  that  impalpable, 
scarcely  definable  form  in  the  gloom,  for  here 
as  without  all  was  swiftly  darkling  like  the 
clammy  terror  enveloping  the  youth's  heart. 
"You,  autocratic  brother,  who  would  have  made 
a  good  adviser  at  the  elbow  of  the  Grand-Duke 
of  Russia,  matched  badly  and  without  the  least 
consideration  for  the  feelings — admitting  they 
have  feelings  to  be  considered — of  his  peas- 
ants!"' 

"But  Laffemas  look  up  to  Ramire!     I  say, 


54      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

look  up!  A  prince  might!  Pan  himself,  if  he 
haunted  these  thickets,  would  have  lowered  his 
wanton  gaze  and  let  her  pass  unf  righted !"  de- 
clared Richelieu,  recovering  some  fire  if  not 
coolness.  "Laffeinas!  a  promising  lad,  but  he 
could  not  appreciate  a  Eamire,  far  less  charm 
her!  The  'prentice  astrologer  ogles  Diana,  but 
it  is  sure  that  she  does  not  bend  her  ^w  to 
shoot  a  ray  at  the  clown!  She  was  all  loveli- 
ness and  had  a  lovelier  disposition  than  all  the 
fine  dames  of  the  province!  I  grant  you,  Jo- 
seph, my  brother,  my  father,  my  teacher,  that 
Laffemas  might  have  looked  up  to  her,  for 
zounds!  we  have  taste  in  our  bourg!  But 
purely  on  peril  of  his  ears,  as  the  sower  looks 
up  at  the  evening  star  when  sowing  in  the 
change  of  the  moon!  But  he,  to  pay  his  ad- 
dresses to  her — " 

He  banged  the  doorpost  with  his  fist  and 
uttered  an  oath,  specimen  of  the  camp  vocab- 
ulary, which  drowned  a  gust  of  the  rising  wind. 

"I  taught  you  to  doubt,  and  you  trusted! 
You  have  been  fooled  up  to  the  hilt,  my  poor 
pupil!  Simply,  she  has  run  off  with  your  man- 
Jack — it  is  positive!" 

Armand  burst  into  hollow  laughter  and 
sprang  to  sit  upon  the  table  where  he  swung 
his  feet  saucily,  like  a  pert  page. 

"Good  father,  much  fasting  has  driven  you 
mad!" 

Joseph  lifted  his  sleeved  arm  as  if  to  appeal 
to  heaven,  when  far-off  lightning  lit  up  an  ex- 
panse as  by  drawing  over  it  a  luminous  sheet. 

"Eamire,  who  had  delicacy  like  a  princes*, 
and  a  Laffemas !     Ha !  Ha !" 

"My  son,  Laffemas  came— you  will  see  wheth- 

<■;  I  am  wf>\\  Informed  h  itli  ■  -  ■  ■  fPOIB 
-•it:1  h:iui\.  (.his  eyi 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  55 

"Then  he  has  been  a  sluggard!  but  certainly 
I  sent  a  message  to  her — " 

"It  terrified  her,  as  he  had  been  terrified 
on  the  way  by  surprising  the  contents — " 

"It  might  terrify  him,  for  a  lord's  secrets  are 
fearful  to  keep;  but  why  should  it  thus  affect 
her?"' 

"F-  \  the  crisis  had  come  to  both.  He  was 
your  courier,  and  he  added  to  her,  as  a  final 
argument,  that  they  must  act  with  prompt- 
ness; bearing  in  mind  that  the  marquis'  death 
would  make  you  lord  over  all  the  estate — " 

"You  overshoot  the  mark!  The  news  was 
not  known  in  camp  up  to  my  departure,  mark! 
I  met  no  mournful  faces  on  the  road,"  contin- 
ued he  suspiciously.  "How  was  my  messenger 
to  know  this?" 

"Like  ancient  slaves,  our  swains  have  pecu- 
liar methods  of  spreading  news.  The  states- 
man who  discovers  them  and  contracts  them  to 
his  own  profit  will  be  grandissimo  among  rul- 
ers. This  by  the  way.  Your  varlet  picked  up 
the  news  at  some  roadside  inn,  perhaps  at  our 
River  House,  wdiere  boatmen  and  servingmen 
exchange  what  hints  will  best  further  their 
robbing  masters  by  water  and  on  land.  At  all 
events  Jean  Laffernas  came  here,  peradventure, 
the  only  person,  except  myself  and  my  inform- 
ant, aware  of  your  loss.  Therefore,  he  could 
readily  assure  Ramire  as  well  that  you  would 
arrive  shortly  as  that  you  would  be  in  the  posi- 
tion to  force  her  and  him  asunder  and  drive  her 
into  any  course  to  consummate  your  amourette. 
To  begin  with,  you  would  separate  them,  send 
him  back  to  the  frontier  where  he  would  be 
pressed  into  one  of  those  forlorn  hopes,  with  a 
soldier  attai  QBkPQl  Bti*" 

rii;ilice    iu    P 


56      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"I  am  not  interested  enough  in  my  footboy 
to  propose  his  murder,"  returned  Armand,  dry- 
ly, but  stilled  into  immobility  by  the  gravity 
of  the  conversation's  turn. 

Du  Tremblay  was  a  noble  like  himself  and 
seemed  to  properly  value  the  results  of  one 
making  a  misalliance. 

"She  has  grown  up  with  this  boor.  They 
have  shuddered  in  the  evening  as  the  owl's 
prolonged  hoots  echoed  down  the  glade  and 
she  has  shrunk  upon  his  breast.  They  have 
listened  to  the  nightingale  in  the  early  spring 
morning,  as  they  collected  dew,  for  your  saint- 
ed mother's  toilet — God  rest  her!  Who  had 
not  a  weakness  but  wishing  to  be  belle  of  the 
county  all-a-lifetime!  In  short,"  he  abruptly 
said,  like  an  angler  who,  after  playing,  gave 
the  line  a  tautening  motion,  "Ramire  has 
thought  of  her  heart  alone,  as  rustics  will! 
She  chose  for  companion  for  life  the  one  who 
was  her  childhood's,  and  as  I  have  told  you, 
they  have  left  Richelieu  forever!" 

"My  man,  with  no  fear  of  me!  My  love,  with 
no  affection  for  me!"  groaned  the  young  noble, 
burying  his  face  in  trembling  hands. 

"They  who  plucked  the  hips  and  haws  to- 
gether are  now  seeking  grapes  on  the  thorns 
plenteous  in  sin  and  desolation's  way!  For 
this  turncoat  Laffemas  is  a  married  man!" 

"Monstrous!"  cried  Armand,  stamping  his 
heavy  boot,  "unnatural!  So  fair,  so  gentle,  so 
sweet  a  girl  that  the  August  sun  would  not 
scorch  her  beauty  at  this  door.  A  child!  For 
it  was  scarcely  more  than  yesterday  that  she 
stood  no  higher  than  my  pony's  stirrup  to  of- 
fer me  in  the  woodland  a  nosegay  of  its  blooms. 
Ah!  those   flowers,   like   her  most   fresh   and 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  57 

pure,  but  so  soon  wilted  that  I  could  not  long 
wear  them  on  uiv  heart!" 

"All  fades,''  said  Joseph's  deep  voice,  "all 
perishes!  Look  not  to  things  earthly  if  you 
seek  the  Everduring!" 

The  calm  was  over  without;  the  rising  breeze 
bore  from  the  manorhouse  a  confusion  of 
coarse  laughter,  rough  songs  and  music,  and 
applause  of  thumping  feet  and  cries  of  "Noel!" 

"Laubardemont  is  telling  them  some  droll 
town  story,"  thought  the  priest. 

"Father,"  said  the  lieutenant  with  voice  un- 
steady, "how  do  you  know  about  this  flight,  all, 
like  one  standing  by?  Surely,  holy  man 
though  you  are,  being  by,  you  would  have 
struck  down  the  hireling  stealing  the  sweets 
marked  down  by  his  master?  This  is  villainy, 
no  doubt,  which  seeks  the  covert  and  seldom 
has  hearers!" 

''You  are  right,  my  son!  I  came  here,  ignor- 
ant of  all — death  of  your  brother  and  death 
to  your  hopes!  On  the  village  skirts,  I  met 
mine  own  servant,  who  had  ridden  with  spur 
and  whip  to  acquaint  the  house  with  the  news 
how  Henri  had  met  death.  I  was  about  to 
send  you  and  Alphonse  a  dispatch,  call  your 
sister  out  of  her  nunnery,  summon  a  family 
council  in  your  name,  when  the  Castle  Hill 
hermit  intercepted  me — " 

"Ah,  that  snail  comes  forth  from  his  shell 
to  stay  the  good  work?" 

"Simon  it  was  to  whom  the  escaping  maid 
had  turned  to  procure  funds  for  the  flight — 
her  own.  You  know  he  is  the  Jew,  the  banker, 
the  custodian  of  savings  as  of  secrets  for  all 
the  rude  neighbors.  To  him,  you  see,  holy  man, 
money  is  dross!  He  charges  no  interest  for 
its  keep,  and  such  his  high  reputation  for  sane- 


58  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

tity  that  no  robber  durst  penetrate  his  cell 
any  more  than  Barabbas  would  invade  the 
Tabernacle." 

"Yes,"  muttered  Arinand,  brooding,  "she 
would  have  money  laid  up — there,  I  daresay — 
much,  for  I  added  to  her  store,  wishful  she 
should  not  too  early  lack  daintj^  food,  the  cur- 
rent song  and  story  books,  finer  laces  of  the 
smuggling-chapman  than  she  can  work,  trink- 
ets to  which  I  want  her  accustomed — in  fact, 
she  laid  up,  as  we  jested,  for  a  reigning   day!" 

"A  rainy  day,  for  which  you  feathered  the 
nest  where  another  will  be  sheltered  from  the 
storm!  Poor  Armand!  With  hypocritical 
pretence  that  her  money  was  needed  to  pay 
out  her  mother's  soul  from  perdition,  she  drew 
it!  More  hypocritically  still,  she  begged  the 
recluse's  blessing  on  her  journey  to  her  moth- 
er's burying-place,  at  last  discovered,  she  as- 
serted.    And  so,  made  her  reverence!" 

"But  with  money  it  was  less  likely  she  would 
travel  alone?  A  girl  can  scarcely  travel  afar 
without  guard,  without  duenna,  as  they  say 
in  Spain?" 

"You  have  hit  it!  She  was  not  going  with- 
out attendant.  At  the  inn  she  was  to  meet 
a  guide,  an  old  aunt,  decrepit,  venerated  by 
the  gipsies,  all  of  whom  would  assist  the 
pair — " 

"You  see,  the  other  story  is  fabulous!  It  is 
filial  affection!  She  goes  with  a  kinswoman!" 
cried  the  young  man.  "She  is  innocent!  the 
other  supposition  was  infamous!  Unfounded! 
Scandalous!" 

"A  gipsy,  under  the. Crossed  Oars!  A  pa- 
gan, at  the  Boatman's  Arms!  Come,  come,  the 
host  is  a  receiver  of  stolen  goods,  the  guests 
are  poachers  and  smugglers;  but  they  would 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  59 

not  harbor  a  heathen!     This  was  her  tale!     I 
told  vou  that  she  went  oil'  with  your  man!" 

"With  him!  Into  Spain!  Still,  if  there—" 
clinging  to  the  clue  for  his  Ariadne's  sake. 

"Oh,  the  traitress  would  sav  anything  to  mis- 
lead!" 

"In  Spain,  or  wherever  I  find  him,  I  will  have 
this  Laffemas  beaten  out  of  recognition  by  the 
mother  who  bore  him.  I  will  drag  him  home 
and  then  run  him  out  with  hounds,  on  mar- 
ket-day, from  the  cross  to  the  parish  confines!" 

"Both  are  beyond  hounding,"  said  Joseph 
curtly,  passing  around  to  the  door  as  if  to  close 
it  as  the  wind  brought  the  savor  of  tempest. 

"Patient  as  the  panther,"  said  the  discon- 
solate man,  "I  pursue!" 

The  wind  shut  the  door  and  the  Capuchin 
stood  before  it. 

But,  as  happens  when  the  wind  rises,  merry- 
makers raise  their  voices,  and  they  still  heard 
Laubardemont's  song. 

"A  merry  song,  in  the  mouth  of  one  who 
brought  that  mortal  news?"  said  Armand. 

"He  has  not  told  it!" 

"Why  not?  What  mysteries!  Who  is  the 
lord  here  in  the  interregnum  of  Henri  and  Ar- 
mand?" said  Richelieu  haughtily.  "He  shall 
have  my  ox>inion  on  one  who  sings  thus  over 
the  dead  lord!  But  my  horse  is  rested;  I 
must  out,  upon  their  road  !" 

"Stop!" 

"Father,  even  you  must  not  stay  me!" 

"Your  brother's  corpse,  that  bars  the  road!" 

He  opened  the  door.  Armand  advanced,  but 
recoiled. 

"Hark!  If  you  have  ears  for  other  sound 
than  that  siren's  voice!" 

A  distant  churchbell  tolled.     On  the  stormy 


60      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

wind,  fitfully  came  notes  of  a  strident  trumpet 
and  a  monotonous  drum;  the  young  officer  well 
knew  the  funeral  march  of  a  soldier. 

"My  brother!" 

Overhead  all  was  dark  now.  Like  the  sil- 
ver tears  on  a  pall,  a  few  stars,  momentarily 
uncovered,  glinted  faintly. 

Joseph  dropped  on  his  knees,  to  pray,  leav- 
ing the  passage  altogether  free.  But  Armand 
reverently  joined  him  in  the  prayer,  although 
standing,  and  inclining  forward  like  a  hound 
in  the  leash,  ready  to  spring  spite  of  chiding. 

But  the  wind  soughed  so  woefully  in  the 
woods,  the  ilex  and  elms  waved  so  dolefully, 
and  the  clamor  of  the  women  who  had  added 
themselves  to  the  procession,  to  be  rewarded 
(as  was  the  usage)  on  arriving  at  the  great 
house,  was  so  touching  that  the  heir  bowed  his 
head  and  bent  the  knee. 

"Henri  is  coming  home  for  the  last  time," 
whispered  the  Capuchin  in  his  ear,  they  be- 
ing on  the  level.  "Stay,  at  least,  to  cast  the 
clod  and  the  sprig  of  evergreen  upon  his  cof- 
fin!" 

"On  his  burial  morning,  I  leave  home,  for  the 
last  time,  then!" 

"Wilful  that  you  are!"  said  the  priest,  but 
not  without  a  strange  admiration. 

"Revenge,  saith  the  Italians,  is  a  dish  sweet- 
est eaten  cold,"  returned  the  youth  with  little 
of  Christian  spirit  before  his  instructor  in 
piety. 

"Revenge  on  a  low-born  lass  and  a  lackey! 
That  is  a  meat  for  equals  to  sup  on.  A  gipsy 
and  a  plowboy!  Fie,  Armand!  The  Marquis 
of  Richelieu  degrades  himself  already!" 

Often  as  now  the  priest's  words  were  bit- 
ter without  the  tone  being  so.     He  saluted  him, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  Gl 

on  taking  his  title,  like  one  gentleman  to  an- 
other, without  mockery. 

The  other  quivered  with  rage;  the  chant  of 
the  priests  seemed  to  madden  him! 

"Before  the  grass  grows  on  that  new  grave, 
I  will  have  them  dragged  back  at  the  horses' 
tail !  From'the  realm's  confines,  from  over  the 
border,  if  our  name  finds  an  echo  at  the  Court! 
Lashed  all  the  way  to  where  they  were  born, 
and  on  the  land  to  which  they  turned  traitors! 
I  would  I  could  bury  them  alive,  under  the 
smoking  ashes  of  this  cottage,  which  the  fires 
of  heaven  should  kindle  and  consume  for  be- 
ing my  heart's  funereal  urn!  Oh,  had  my  wish 
been  otherwise,  how  oft  would  we  two  have 
paid  a  pious  pilgrimage-visit  hither  to  view 
where  we  first  caught  a  glimpse  of  Eden!  Oh, 
that  deceit  should  crawl  in  here,  to  tempt  that 
maid  of  peerless  mould,  of  luscious  but  lying 
lips!  Stand  aside!  They  shall  not  enjoy  their 
triumph!  I  forget  all,  until  I  shall  have 
washed  my  hands  in  their  blood!" 

"Hold!  Bring  them  back  from  where  they 
hide  their  shame!  Preposterous  idea!  Better 
they  should  perish,  remote,  in  lowliness  befit- 
ting their  coudition!  Whatever  the  charge 
trumped  up  to  obtain  their  return,  will  they 
not  deny  it?  Their  silence  even  would  find  a 
hundred  voices  in  others,  too,  of  their  herd, 
to  bruit  that  my  lord  was  jealous — of  his  foot- 
boy,  forsooth!  That  the  new  sultan  was  dou- 
bly duped!  Ha,  ha!"  laughed  the  monk,  with 
as  little  feeling  as  the  brazen  head  of  magi- 
cians. "What  will  the  Estates  of  Touraine  say 
to  their  latest  member,  so  blind  that  a  (hit 
of  a  girl  and  a  lout  not  many  weeks  promoted 
from  the  plowhandle  to  the  varlet's  clothes- 
brush — thev  cheated  him  in  fulness!     Riche- 


62  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

lieu  will  be  a  by- word!  The  laughing-stock — 
the  peg  on  which  to  hang  a  lewd  ballad  such 
as  my  ungodly  man  is  halloaing  there  in  the 
teeth  of  the  funeral  train!  You  will  be  con- 
demned to  enter  the  Church,  or  remain  a  bach- 
elor, and  you  may  not  seek  the  town,  for  the 
players  along  the  Seine-side  will  be  enacting 
farces  about  'the  Master  who  wTas  Kival  to 
his  Squire!' " 

"By  the  hallowed  Death!"  swore  Armand, 
like  his  old  troopers. 

"You  cannot  flee,  like  they  have!  Whither 
would  you  flee  whence  you  must  not  return 
some  day  for  your  duties,  whereupon,  look  you ! 
the  first  tenant  who  came  to  kiss  your  hand 
would  stop  to  conceal  his  well-worn  grin  on 
remembering  your  being  gulled!" 

"Oh,  holy  sir!  You  might  be  content  with 
lacerating  me,  but  not  pour  boiling  pitch  on 
the  weals!" 

"To  heal!  Armand,  you  would  be  a  blighted 
man,  and  the  house — the  house  your  father 
lifted  so  as  to  be  even  with  the  mightiest, 
would  be  down  in  the  mire  for  a  century!" 

"True!"  said  the  young  man  tenderly,  for  he 
idolised  his  father.  Then,  loftily  and  severely 
as  never  before  to  his  preceptor,  "I  stay 
through  the  obsequies;  whereon  I  shall  act  on 
the  fruit  of  inquiries  toward  an  end — one  to 
make  me  feared,  not  ridiculed!" 

"To  make  inquiries  looks  like  doubting  me!" 
said  the  monk,  but  with  his  usual  unconcern. 

"After  doubting  a  Eamire,  I  doubt  every- 
body!" 

He  sprang  out  of  the  house  as  if  suddenly 
aware  of  its  containing  deadly  contagion. 

<.\vrtouk  Mm, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  63 

"Whither  go  you  if  not  to  precipitate  your- 
self after  the  runagades?" 

"To  the  hermitage,  to  put  a  question  or  two 
to  Father  Simon." 

The  Capuchin  drew  a  breath  in  relief. 

"You  could  not  do  better;  by  his  office  and 
his  practice  as  comforter,  he  will  afford  you 
peace." 

"Peace,  to  this  heart!"  said  the  lieutenant, 
beating  his  breast.  "Replace  that  fledgling, 
tossed  out  of  the  nest  by  the  gale,  and  expect 
it  to  thrive!" 

"After  seeing  the  good  man,  what  follows?" 

"I  know  not;  but  Richelieu  will  stand  at 
his  place  by  his  brother's  pall,  as  the  prayers 
are  spoken  over  him." 

"That  suffices  for  a  brother  noble,  but  not 
for  a  noble  brother!" 

"Father,  if  Raniire  be  the  miserable  self- 
castaway  you  describe,  rejecting  and  trifling 
with  a  love  like  mine,  my  titles,  my  future — 
for,  sir,  I  felt  I  had  a  future  when  Love  drew 
the  curtain  and  waved  its  torch  on  the  obscur- 
ity beyond — if  she  spurns  me  in  favor  of  a 
clown — well,  look  you!  I  shall  be  grossly  mis- 
taken on  this  life  of  mortal  man.  I  and  the 
world  will  fly  asunder  as  the  broken  handle 
from  the  sword;  I  shall  be  detached  from  things 
as  these  leaves  from  the  bough  and  those  limbs 
from  the  trunk!  I  held  to  my  prospects  as  the 
antique  culprit  to  his  rock,  but,  this  time,  I 
shall  let  it  roll  back  and  crush  me!" 

"All  for  a  girl!  Woman,  woman,  here  be 
buried  two  men  in  a  week,  for  your  worth- 
lessness  withal!     Poor  Henri!" 

"Poor  Ramire!" 

"At  all  events,  you  will  be  at  the  funeral?" 


64  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Armand  looked  round  as  if  seeing  the  scene 
for  the  first  time. 

The  showers  of  a  storm's  front  were  falling 
finely.  The  drops  beat  on  the  leaves  like  tat- 
too of  an  immense  fairy  host.  A  strange  light 
pervaded  all,  the  grey  tone  of  burnt  roses,  deli- 
cate, pleasingly  sad,  mysterious,  not  repulsive, 
suggesting  renascence  not  annihilation.  The 
wailing  was  under  cover  now,  no  doubt  in  the 
chapel,  and  the  muffling  made  it  musical  and 
less  doleful.  Already  a  pool,  fed  by  some  deep 
channel,  was  swelling  and  its  surface,  chang- 
ing color  with  dyes  from  the  earth  dissolving, 
reflected  flitting  and  minute  rays  as  from  glow- 
worms or  deadwood.  As  the  Cadet  of  Riche- 
lieu gazed,  even  these  were  blotted  out  by  the 
spreading  grey. 

The  chapel  bell  sounded  as  if  never  to  stop; 
melancholy  filled  his  heart  like  that  of  one 
who  had  not  a  support  to  grasp  at.  It  had 
been  fraught  with  joy  and  hope,  but  so  isolated 
is  a  lover  when  he  is  a  wronged  one,  that  he 
felt  entirely  alone. 

"See!"  said  Joseph  in  a  sweet  voice,  such  as 
a  prelate  uses  to  the  novice  taking  the  black 
veil,  "nature  weeps  with  us.  Do  nothing  rash- 
ly. Why  breast  this  deluge?  Rather  get  you 
in,  and  there  await  the  hermit.  I  will  send 
him  to  you!  Pray  meanwhile  for  oblivion, 
which  is  a  kind  of  peace,  and  he  will  come, 
haply,  to  seal  it  with  heaven's!" 

Armand  seeined  confounded  by  the  blank  of 
nature;  submissively,  mechanically  almost,  he 
let  himself  be  pushed  toward  the  cottage  where 
he  abruptly  entered  as  if  invisible  hands  seized 
him.  Imagining  in  the  redoubled  gloom  that 
blissful  form  which  the  bold  accusation  had 
dissipated,  he  burst  into  tears.      Clasping  his 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  65 

hands,  he  sank  upon  a  stool,  with  his  head 
bowed,  his  insupportable  grief  mastering  other 
emotions. 

"He  weeps;  but  that  is  no  disgrace  in  a  mere 
boy,  fatigued  by  a  long  ride!  It  will  save  him 
from  frenzy,  during  which  he  might  have  cut 
a  throat!"  thought  the  monk,  confidently  hur- 
rying away  over  the  ground  slippery  with  the 
rain,  which  he  defied  in  his  cowl  and  gown. 
"He  is  saved  from  worse — he  might  attempt 
self-murder!  But  our  task  is  only  begun!  He 
would  not  listen  to  me!  Has  Simon  a  wilier 
tongue?" 

The  rain  poured  in  torrents  as  he  reached  the 
sanctuary. 


6$  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTEE  IV, 

A  GOOD  HEARER  MAKES  A  FINE  SPEAKER. 

In  spite  of  the  tempest  the  good  hermit 
seemed  not  to  be  astonished  at  the  re-appear- 
ance of  his  brother  in  the  creed.  Nor  was  he 
filled  with  surprise  on  hearing  that,  after  the 
first  outburst,  and  the  wrathful  expression  of 
his  desire  to  follow  the  fugitives,  Armand  had 
been  calmed  by  grief,  shown  in  those  tears 
which  one  of  the  Latin  races  has  no  compunc- 
tion to  shed  in  another  man's  presence  upon  a 
great  emotion  mastering  him. 

"Were  vou  cruel  to  him,  brother?"  demanded 
he,  somewhat  sternly. 

The  lover  of  one's  child  can  never  be  indif- 
ferent to  father,  or  grandsire. 

"Who  loves  well,  chastises  well,"  responded 
the  Capuchin,  like  a  Flagellant  Friar. 

"I  am  glad  he  is  calmed — his  thirst  for  re- 
venge assuaged  by  tears." 

Joseph  replied  no  more,  but  watched  the 
other. 

"But  what  are  you  holding?  It  looks  like  a 
phial  of  cordial.  Simon,  Simon,  you  are  not 
addicted  to  stimulants  of  your  distilling,  in 
your  lonely  watches,  are  you?"  said  the  Capu- 
chin with  an  effort  at  jesting. 

"It  is  a  medicine,  as  it  is  used — a  poison, 
at  need." 

"Ah!  it  is  your  grandchild,  true!  Would 
you  take  your  life  because  I  took  awav  her 
love?" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  67 

"No,  it  is  not  for  me.     It  is  for  your  pupil." 

"Hand  Armand  poison?" 

"Did  you  not  leave  him  willing  to  die?" 

"I  think  yen  are  right.  He  had,  at  least, 
postponed  the  inclination  to  hurry  in  the  chase 
and  kill  the  pair." 

"If  he  did  not  do  so,  without  hearing  your 
remonstrances,  it  is  because  he  knew  that  he 
loved  her  too  much!  He  would  spare  her — 
count  on  that!  And,  perhaps,  at  her  entreaty, 
the  supposed  paramour.  Now,  he  wishes  to 
inflict  the  deepest  wound  on  her — if  she  still 
loves  him,  you  understand? — he  wishes  to  have 
her  haunted  all  her  life  with  the  idea  that  he 
slew  himself  for  love  of  her,  believing  her  un- 
true." 

"And  you  would  assist  him  in  that  silly  pur- 
pose?" 

"I  shall  do  better  than  that.  You  want  an 
auditor  who  will  not  interrupt  you  in  seek- 
ing to  prevail  against  the  well-prevailing  Love. 
I  will  go  to  him — pretend  to  aid  him  in  his 
wicked  aim,  and  he  will  drink — "  holding  up 
the  phial,  in  the  flambeau  light,  "thinking  it 
is  annihilation  of  the  senses — when  it  will  be 
barely  suspension  of  them." 

"Only  a  drug?"  said  Joseph,  relieved. 

"And  a  rare  one,  which  the  monks  of  Mount 
Athos  never  bettered  in  their  alembics.  It  has 
the  power  to  plunge  the  absorber  into  a  sleep 
so  like  the  ultimate  one  that  the  best  physi- 
cians would  be  in  doubt.  Perhaps,  it  was  ex- 
tracted," went  on  Simon,  meditatively,  "from 
that  root,  by  means  of  the  juice  of  which  the 
fakirs  of  the  Ind  dwell  bottled  up  for  a  long 
period  and  ran  be  revived.  Who  knows  but 
the  Egyptian  mummies  await  the  bearer  of 
such  a  flask  to  be  resuscitated?" 


68  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Leave  Egypt  and  the  Ind!"  said  the  Capu- 
chin hastily.  "I  see  your  drift.  The  idea  is 
excellent.  If  I  can  but  get  him  to  listen  pa- 
tiently." 

"Like  a  stone!" 

"You  are  sure  that  I  should  not  be  wasting 
my  eloquence,  like  your  namesake  the  Stylite, 
preaching  to  the  monoliths?" 

"Follow  me  to  the  cottage  and  enter  when 
you  see  him  rendered  unresisting  to  your  thun- 
der!" 

Wrapt  in  their  purpose,  proof  to  the  deluge 
into  which  they  had  to  plunge,  the  two  men 
retraced  the  path  to  the  girl's  dwelling. 

One  of  the  horn  window-panes  had  been  dis- 
lodged by  the  wind.     They  peeped  in. 

"Armand  is  on  the  spot  where  I  left  him; 
but  he  has  sunk  on  his  knees!  So  devout, 
after  all — pray  he  may  not  be  lost  to  the 
Church!"  said  the  Capuchin,  sincerely. 

"He  is  rising.     This  is  the  nick!" 

A  flash  of  lightning  zigzagged  across  the 
dun  sky  as  the  hermit  stepped  within  the  single 
room  and  shook  off  the  rain. 

In  a  second  flash  Armand  saw  him,  and  by 
the  third  recognised  his  visitor. 

"Plague!"  said  he,  with  affectation  of  levity, 
"has  all  Richelieu  made  a  rendezvous  in  the 
poor  flown  pigeon's  cote?  Why  do  you  in- 
trude on  me?"  he  fiercely  added,  thinking  that 
the  new-comer  wore  that  smile  of  contumely 
which  Joseph  had  foreseen  would  adorn  all 
lips. 

"Do  you  use  that  tone  to  me,  and  yet  know 
me?"  said  Simon  reproachfully. 

"Yes,  I  know  you,  my  tutor  in  woodcraft  and 
the  wonders  of  Nature!  Father  Simon,  who 
need  be  Simon  Magus  to  dispel  my  sorrow! 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  69 

You  are  famed  for  wisdom,  piety,  honesty, 
charity,  all  that  makes  a  bishop  shunned  and 
a  hermit  sought  in  his  diocese!  Unhappily,  I 
do  not  want  any  of  those  balms!  All,  all  is 
naught  to  me,  you  understand?" 

"Why,  A  inland?  Because  you  have  heard 
of  the  death  which  makes  you  Richelieu?" 

"I  was  not  thinking  of  Henri's  death — more 
shame  to  me,  perhaps!  The  heart  has  its  fam- 
ily, created  after  it  bounds  in  love — the  death 
oppressing  me  is  in  its  family!" 

Simon  heaved  a  sigh  and  surprised  his  hearer 
by  saying,  with  feeling: 

"Poor  Eamire!" 

"Do  you  mock  me?  Do  you  imitate  the 
echoes  of  these  walls?  That  has  been  the 
Amen  to  all  my  prayers!" 

"I  do  not  mock  you !"  he  removed  a  tear  from 
his  eye  with  his  hand,  and  added:  "I  mourn 
her,  too." 

"Ah,  she  was  really,  then,  so  good  as  to 
make  you  deplore  her  flight?"  said  the  young 
man,  interested  for  the  first  time. 

"I  deplore  any  flight  of  a  soul,  even  toward 
heaven,  for  it  is  one  missing  from  the  army 
which  on  earth  wages  eternal  war  with  Satan. 
But  there  is  more  in  her  departure  to  pierce 
my  heart,  like  your  own,  than  you  imagine. 
You  said  you  knew  me  as  your  tutor  when  I 
came  in.  Know,  now  only,  that  I  am  her 
grandfather." 

"I  ought  to  have  guessed  that!  Ramire 
often  told  me  how  limitless  was  your  kindness! 
You  brought  her  up  like  a  princess'  daughter — 
bless  you  for  that,  though  she  throws  away  the 
pearl!" 

"Yes,  I  must  have    shown  her  more    than 


70  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Christian  loving-kindness.  She  was  my  only 
tie  to  life." 

"Tell  me — her  father — was  he  lowly  born?" 

"Her  father  was  Blaise — " 

"The  old  soldier  turned  wood-cutter — " 

"The  reprobate,  who  led  a  dissolute  life  and 
died  of  wounds  received  battling  with  your 
father's  keepers  over  a  doe  killed  out  of  sea- 
son; her  mother — " 

"Yes,  yes,  her  mother?" 

"Was,  like  him,  an  arrant  law-breaker,  gipsy 
by  every  deed,  and  a  Spanish  one  at  that,  who 
had  redoubled  Oriental  craft  with  Moorish 
subtlety." 

"I  see  that  you  leave  me  no  hope.  But  it 
is  enough  that  you  believe  her  so  wicked!"  In 
a  tone  of  despair  which  made  the  other  shiver, 
he  uttered:  "1  see  that  you  do  not  blame  me 
■ — since  I  have  not  driven  her  from  this  home! 
On  the  contrary,  I  came  to  offer  my  hand  in 
holy  marriage — " 

Simon  pretended  surprise  too  great  to  let 
him  speak. 

"Yes;  you  taught  her  to  be  my  equal;  but 
she,  of  her  birthright,  daughter  of  the  vagrants 
who  spurn  all  bonds,  has  resumed  their  vag- 
rant life.  Let  me  show  I  have  better  profited 
by  your  tuition!" 

"How,  Armand?"  said  the  old  man,  tenderly, 
for  he  could  not  but  regard  with  weakening 
eyes  the  young  noble  who  contemplated  such 
an  act  as  a  marriage  beneath  him. 

"Your  Church  is  Nature's;  but  you  live  in 
sympathy  with  that  which  stands  heavy  on  the 
land  in  severe  majesty — my  brother  Al- 
phonse's.  Let  me  cancel  the  boon  of  learning 
which  I  owe  to  you  by  giving  up  all  I  inherit 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  71 

to  that  Church,   when  I  am   laid  beside  mj 
brother  the  marquis." 

"That  would  be  long  to  await — " 

"Not  so!     I  dead,  Alphonse  is  master  here." 

"He  renouiH  ed  all." 

Armand  smiled  sarcastically. 

"I  doubt  not  that  the  Ecclesiastical  Court 
will  find  a  way  to  pass  the  estate  on  to  him, 
bar  that!" 

"Be  that  as  it  may,  what  are  you  bent  upon? 
Throwing  away  your  life  in  the  wars,  rather 
than  on  the  highway,  seeking  our  poor  Ra- 
mi re?" 

"No.  Here!  Not  so  romantically!  I  beg 
of  you  some  of  that  drug  for  which  we  gath- 
ered the  plants  in  the  moonlight." 

Simon  started ;  it  was  not  often  that  he  had 
known  the  same  thought  to  attack  two  persons 
so  opportunely  for  a  trick. 

"That  poison?"  stammered  he.  "I,  give  you 
poison?  How  do  you  know  but  that  I  want  it 
for  myself,  in  my  desperation?" 

"Because  you  hope  to  see  the  girl  again,  A 
grandsire  may  pardon  all  she  has  done  and 
receive  her  in  his  arms  at  the  end  of  her  flight 
in  folly;  but  with  a  lover — a  lover  like  me, 
it  is  different:  I  cannot  forgive  the  insult  in 
her  setting  me  aside  in  favor  of  one  who  held 
my  stirrup!" 

"I  shall  never  see  Ramire  on  earth  again," 
said  the  hermit  firmly.  "In  the  wailing  of  the 
storm  I  hear  a  premonition!" 

"Then  give  me  the  only  physic  to  our  woe." 

"Die,  with  this  estate  at 'your  feet?  With 
the  future  so  brightly  dawning?  So  young 
that  you  may  be  roiisoled  for  this  loss?" 

"I  die,  Father  Simon,  because  I  believe,  spite 
of  all,  that  Ramire  did  love  me,  and  may  again 


72  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

do  so.  Then  she  will  be  punished,  on  finding 
a  stone,  cold  and  speechless,  over  my  grave, 
where  she  expected  to  meet  a  cherished  re- 
membrance which  would  assure  her  forgive- 
ness. It  is  to  have  done  with  all,  with  her 
particularly,  you  see,  that  I  beseech  you  to 
divert  Lethe  across  my  path." 

"Why  do  you  single  me  out  to  have  a  share 
in  your  crime — for  Christians  are  not  stoics — 
they  forbid  self-murder!" 

"Because  you  had  a  part  in  my  grief;  you 
brought  Ramire  and  me  together,  when  girl 
and  boy!  Perhaps  you  divined  my  good  and 
high  intentions,  and,  being  her  forefather,  you 
fanned  the  flame!  I  forgive  you,  though  it  has 
blackened  her  fame  and  scorches  the  heart  out 
of  me!     The  poison,  father!" 

The  recluse  drew  out  from  the  folds  of  his 
gown  the  rock-crystal  phial  which  Joseph  had 
remarked,  and  held  it  up. 

"Drink,"  he  said  slowly,  "while  I  go,  alone, 
in  quest  of  our  lost  lamb!" 

He  watched  for  the  effect  of  this  phrase 
on  the  youth,  but  his  hand  did  not  tremble 
unless  with  eagerness  as  he  took  the  object. 

"If  you  do  succeed  in  finding  her,  tell  her 
not  how  you  assisted  to  divorce  my  soul  and 
body!" 

"Shall  I  not  tell  her  you  died,  leaving  a 
last  word  of  forgiveness?" 

"I  thank  you,  and  may  you  be  forgiven  for 
culminating  your  stainless  life  with  this  seem- 
ing crime — but,  oh!  how  happy  you  make  me!" 

Simon  blessed  him  with  a  gesture. 

"When  the  soul  is  divorced  from  the  casket, 
what  happens?"  said  he,  on  the  threshold. 
"We  have  discussed  this  question,  and  I  have 
pondered  over  it,  to  the  booming  of  the  bit- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  73 

tern  and  until  the  piping  of  the  quail.  You 
will  know,  before  me!  (Strange,  that — in  so 
young  a  man!"' 

"The  grave?"  said  Armand,  clasping  the 
phial  to  his  breast.  "Perhaps,  sheer  silence 
alter  this  noisy  world,  where  empty  talk  has 
the  ear,  like  the  court  jester." 

"In  the  silence,  you  may  the  better  hear 
voices  you  heeded  not  in  life!" 

"As  long  as  I  am  deaf  to  her  voice,  I  care 
not." 

He  relapsed  into  silence,  frowning  like  a 
monarch  who  wished  to  be  alone. 

"He  is  bronze — he  will  not  relent,"  muttered 
the  hermit,  quitting  the  place. 

A  grey  figure,  gleaming  with  wet,  was  mak- 
ing the  circuit  of  the  cottage. 

"What  a  time  you  have  been!"  he  hissed  re- 
proachfully to  Simon. 

"I  was  wasting  the  time,  for  he  would  not 
be  consoled." 

"What  comfort  had  you  for  him?  Did  you 
propose  going  to  chase  after  the  fleeing  couple 
in  company?" 

"Instead  of  pursuing  her,  he  means  to  place 
himself  beyond  her  reach  if  she  returned." 

"Determined  to  kill  himself?" 

"He  asked  me  for  the  drug  which  he  knew 
about,  since  he  and  I  plucked  the  plants  in 
yonder  glades." 

"It  is  a  good  omen  that  the  same  idea  struck 
vou  both!" 

"I  hope  so.  He  will  drink — he  will  fall  into 
a  stupor,  and  the  rest  lies  with  yourself." 

"We  will  see  if  vou  are  acting  fairly  by  us 
both." 

At  the  door,  which  the  hermit  had  not  closed, 
by  a  flash  of  lightning  Joseph  was  spared  stum- 


74  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

bling  over    what    seemed    Kichelieu's  lifeless 
body. 

"Already?''  said  he.  "The  lightning  is  not 
fleeter!" 

Something  glittered  on  the  rushes  over  the 
floor  in  the  next  flash,  and  the  Capuchin  picked 
it  up.  It  was  the  phial,  unstoppered,  and 
drained  to  the  last  drop. 

He  sank  on  his  knees  beside  him  and  felt  for 
his  heart-beat. 

Alarmed,  he  turned  a  pale  face  towards  the 
hermit,  who  had  returned  on  his  path  to  peer 
in  at  the  door. 

"Has  he  taken  an  overdose!  has  it  killed 
him,  of  a  verity?  Ha!  Mother  of  Grace,  for- 
fend  this!  but  you  hated  him,  you  hated  Ar- 
mand  for  being  nearer  the  stem  than  yourself! 
scion  on  the  stock  of  which  we  are  proud,  you 
have  thus  revenged  yourself  for  the  removal  of 
your  grandchild!  you  have  doubled  the  sorrow 
on  this  already  grey  head!" 

Simon  made  a  careless  gesture. 

"Save  your  breath,  my  Brother  Joseph,"  said 
he,  without  a  token  of  irritation  even,  "for 
your  persuasive  address  on  this  fettered  soul. 
You  are  a  teacher  who  has,  for  a  second  time, 
though  at  later  age,  had  a  pupil  placed  under 
his  care.  This  time,  however,  more  helpless 
than  in  puberty,  you  have  your  ward  delivered 
over  to  you  inert,  gagged  and  bound,  and  you 
ran  proceed  with  your  instruction  uninter- 
rupted by  a  sound,  a  look,  a  protest  in  dumb- 
show,  even!  It  is  for  you  to  sway  him  into  the 
course  which  suits  your  intent — your  policy." 

"He  must  not  be  proven  guilty  of  ingratitude 
to  his  country,  his  peers,  or  his  King!"  said 
Du  Tremblay  gravely,  but  not  without  warmth. 

"Yes,  he  were  worthy  of  a  cell  in  the  Bastile, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  75 

where  your  brother  the  Chevalier  is  governor's 
deputy,  if  he  were  to  become  a  rustic  squire, 
wasting  his  talents  and  his  time  on  a  series  of 
farms,  on  warrens  and  preserves,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  a  stupid  wife  and  a  cooing  brood." 

li  was  difficult  for  the  listener,  keen  though 
he  was,  to  determine  whether  the  hermit  was 
gibing  or  speaking  simply, 

He  was  not  a  good  listener,  to  tell  the  truth, 
for  he  was  studying  the  young  man. 

Armand  lay  in  a  trance  which  defied  the 
closest  scrutiny  to  perceive  any  signs  of  re- 
maining life. 

"He  is  no  more?"  said  he,  in  a  hoarse  whis- 
per, half-inquiry,  half  perplexity.  "He  is  al- 
ready cold,  Simon!" 

"In  cold  blood,  in  faith,  he  will  hear  you  out," 
replied  the  hermit,  lightly,  to  hide  some  pain, 
as  he  wavered  at  the  doorway.  "Do  not  hurry 
— there  is  no  need.  When  you  are  done  in  your 
appealing — your  arguments,  your  pleadings — 
what  you  will — just  dash  water  on  him.  You 
need  not  go  far  to  seek  that,  for  the  ice-brook 
is  swelling  at  the  door  from  the  gathering  tor- 
rent. See!  it  is  black  as  ink  from  surging 
through  the  Burnt  Wood!" 

Joseph  did  not  turn  his  head;  if  he  had 
done  so,  he  might  indeed  have  seen  through  the 
slightly-parted  door,  held  agaiust  the  gust  by 
the  recluse,  in  the  bluish  glare  of  lightnings,  a 
black  rivulet  serpentining  through  the  devas- 
tated woods,  like  a  reptile  of  jetty  skin. 

"Water,  merely  water — that  will  be  the  anti- 
dote." 

"Can  anyone  human  arouse  him?"  queried 
the  Capuchin,  wringing  his  hands  and  looking 
up  incredulously. 


76  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"At  will,  at  will,  with  the  cold  water,"  re- 
joined the  retiring  man  testily. 

"I  must  have  faith  in  you  since  there  is  no 
choice.  It  is  on  my  heart  to  say  that  you  have 
done  well,  Simon,  my  brother!  Well,  if  the 
elements  in  their  warfare  permit  it,  go  to  your 
cell  and  pray  for  my  success!  one  for  which, 
please  God!  our  country  will  yet  praise  us!  It 
signifies  the  elevation,  the  diffusion,  the  ag- 
grandisement of  our  Mother-Church!  of  our 
country!  of  this  race  of  Richelieu  of  which  you 
may  be  proud!  and  of  which  without  being 
kin,  I,  too,  from  tender  ties  and  long  alliance 
of  our  families,  seek  the  pre-eminence!" 

In  his  enthusiasm  he  had  forgotten  his  dis- 
tress about  the  insensible  young  man,  and  his 
tone  rose  exultantly  above  the  roaring  of  the 
storm. 

"You  are  rapt  with  joy,  brother!"  said  Si- 
mon, wiping  his  face,  dashed  with  water  from 
the  blast  suddenly  wrestling  with  his  arm  on 
the  door. 

"It  is  a  foretaste  of  a  great  joy  to  come! 
Richelieu,  the  Chief  of  France!" 

"Alas!  your  joy  is  my  sorrow,  that  poor 
boy's  despair,  and  the  everduring  unhappiness 
of  my  poor  Ramire!" 

"Flies  on  the  chariot  wheel  must  be  crushed 
in  the  dust  as  it  rolls  on!"  cried  the  monk  im- 
patiently. 

But  Simon  had  left  the  cottage,  closing  the 
door  where  the  rain  had  beaten  in  during  their 
colloquy;  but,  notwithstanding  the  tempest 
was  almost  at  its  height,  he  stood  under  the 
dripping  eaves  to  hear  the  harangue  to  the 
benumbed  youth. 

Armand  had  hardly  more  than  taken  the 
draught,   which   he  doubted  not  was  deadly, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  77 

when  he  felt  its  insidious  drops  warm  his  in- 
ternals and  swiftly  course  with  the  blood,  and 
even  into  the  nervous  system  until  his  entire 
frame  was  embraced. 

Then  he  fell  as  the  dead;  his  sight  sealed 
up  so  that  he  did  not  perceive  the  vivid  light- 
ning, while  he  was  unconscious  that  the  father 
was  seeking  for  the  throb  of  his  blood  and 
other  indications  that  Simon  had  not  indeed 
executed  a  treacherous  piece  of  revenge. 

But  all  his  faculties  were  not  congealed. 

He  could  hear;  and,  suddenly,  amid  the 
storm  at  its  worst,  a  voice,  either  of  great  pow- 
er at  a  distance  in  space,  or  very  close  to  his 
ear,  made  every  word  tell  of  a  singular  ad- 
dress. 

"Young  man  (said  the  voice  of  Joseph, 
though  he  did  not  recognize  it),  you  entered  on 
the  career  of  arms,  but  the  clash  of  battle  has 
not  allured  you,  any  more  than  the  vain  glory 
of  the  camp,  from  remembrance  of  the  charm- 
ing girl  whom  you  quitted  with  the  promise 
never  to  forget.  You  returned  to  her,  to  wed 
her,  though  born  far  below  your  station. 
Neither  war  nor  love  suit  the  superior  energy 
requisite  to  the  statesman.  lie  who  loves  his 
country  sincerely  must  renounce  the  commerce 
of  the  "fair  sex  and  the  brutal  medley  of  can- 
non, chargers  and  the  pike-bearing  infantry. 
Unless  he  would  lose  touch  of  the  clue  which 
leads  him  to  the  throne,  to  be  King  over  the 
King,  a  prime  minister  must  cherish  no  affec- 
tion to  divert  him  or  yield  to  secondary  mo- 
tives. To  be  alone,  a  man  in  our  age  must  be 
a  priest. 

"A  priest,  you  must  nourish  this  project, 
breathed  into  you  during  youth  to  become  the 
master-impulse  of  your  maturing  period,  as  the 


78  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

vessel  never  loses  the  x^otter's  breath  which 
impregnated  it  and  moulded  it  although  ex- 
posed  to   the   supernal   heat   of   the  furnace. 

"This  project  is  the  grand  one  conceived  by 
King  Henry  the  Fourth  and  finished  in  its  elab- 
oration by  his  Minister,  Sully — a  military  and 
political  dream  annulled  in  his  breast  by  the 
regicide's  knife.  It  was  to  debase  all  Powers 
that  France  might  stand  on  them  as  footstools ; 
France,  our  fatherland,  was  to  be  the  ruling 
spirit  over  Europe,  supported  by  both  branches 
of  the  Christian  Church,  chastened  into  united 
unity. 

"The  Church,  you  hear  me?  In  ancient  Gaul 
the  Druid  priesthood  held  the  administration 
of  business  as  the  priests  should  now,  for  in 
their  body  abides  the  spirit  of  the  future:  Civ- 
ilisation, which  kings,  courtiers,  soldiers,  the 
people — none  other  understand.  But  each  na- 
tion should  have  such  spiritual  counsellors  as 
grow  up  with  it,  its  own  sons.  That  is  why 
the  statesman  of  the  time  coming  must,  in 
France,  oppose — nay,  expel  the  Jesuits!  The 
disciples  of  Loyola  will  never  be  loyal!  Al- 
ready the  populace,  and  even  the  rustics,  at 
the  cue  of  their  parish  priests,  chafe  at  their 
meddling,  and  will  be  ripe  to  back  whoever  re- 
presses and  chastises  these  would-be  monopo- 
lisers. 

"But  the  Pope  often  sides  with  'the  Black 
Pope?'  it  may  be  so,  in  which  case,  the  most 
faithful  son  of  the  Church  may  oppose  the 
Pope. 

"That  is  why  the  statesman  must  be  a 
churchman.  As  for  you,  your  brother  Al- 
phonse,  of  whom  I  thought  what  you  must  real- 
ise, and  who  sorely  disappointed  me,  will  resign 
his  Bishopric  of  Lucay,  so  that  you  may  step 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  79 

into  the  stall  and  rise  to  be  cardinal.  The 
chief  Cardinal  in  France  is  the  Pope  for  our 
land,  and  that  will  suffice,  since  he  must  dwell 
in  Paris,  where  he  may  be  greater  than  the 
Holy  Father  at  Pome, 

"To  combat  your  worst  enemy,  the  Jesuits, 
you  must,  in  its  own  manner,  keep  an  army  of 
spies — the  Force  of  Intelligence — retain  them 
by  wages,  devotion  or  terror;  know  all  that 
goes  on  in  the  world;  and  to  keep  them  true, 
let  the  meanest  ever  rely  on  your  word. 

"Thus  you  will  be  monarch — but,  as  the  ship 
carrying  a  good  captain  could  dispense  with  a 
figure-head,  yet  that  is  preserved  because  it 
bears  the  brunt  in  steering  into  action  and  it 
presents  the  finishing  touch  to  the  prow  on 
gala  occasions,  so  guard  Royalty!  It  is  the 
Palladium  of  the  realm.  Fortify  it!  so  that 
when  the  hour  sounds  for  it  to  be  dismantled 
and  its  walls  thrown  down,  the  garrison  may 
march  out  with  all  honors,  still  useful  to  the 
defence;  the  munitions  as  serviceable  to  the 
Commonwealth  as  when  set  aside  for  a  king 
and  his  court. 

"This  time,  we  shall  not  see. 

"As  for  the  jewels  of  the  Crown,  the  cour- 
tiers, some  do  nothing,  some  idle  away  or  sin 
away  their  leisure,  others  plot  when  they  are 
not  harassing  the  tax-payers.  A  few  are  in- 
telligent, and  the  others  must  be  thrown  down 
to  be  the  living  carpet  ove:-  which  they  shall 
ride  to  exaltation,  as  those  Sheriffs  of  Mahound 
who  trample  under  hoof  the  great  plaza-ful  of 
worshippers! 

"The  princes  and  peers  who  are  not  fops,  in- 
terested solely  in  the  cock  of  a  beaver  hat  or 
curl  of  a  pli  me,  hunt,  and  encourage  bru- 
tality of  a  darker  age  or  misspend  their  hou    I 


80  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

in  evil  merrymaking.  They  regard  the  king- 
dom as  a  park  where  they  chase  the  base-born. 
Curb  them — behead  the  tallest  like  poppies, 
whose  flaring  colors  and  haughty  carriage  they 
assume.  Crush  them  in  their  cabals,  out  of 
which  stream  the  plagues  worse  than  Egypt's. 

"Attend  to  the  financiers.  Not  those  great 
money-makers,  who  enrich  their  country  and 
enhance  its  credit;  their  fortune  in  their  life- 
time parts  into  channels  which  promote  benevo- 
lent projects  and  at  their  death  oft  turns  to  the 
further  advantage  of  the  realm.  But  press 
hard  upon  the  peculators  and  speculators — the 
'farmers'  of  the  revenues,  who  should  be  made 
to  disgorge  in  favor  of  the  Treasury,  all  to 
lighten  the  burdens  upon  the  rate-and-cess 
payers.  As  you  must  have  funds  for  the  wars 
— verily,  to  curb  nobles,  hold  the  sovereign  in 
a  bridle,  and  squeeze  these  public  cormorants, 
this  means  war  intestine!  equalise  taxation  by 
abolishing  all  exemptions  and  privileges — al- 
ways remembering  the  Church  is  an  exception 
to  all  rules!  other  favoring  clauses  are  founded 
on  no  reason  and  are  not  to  the  general  good. 

"You  will  have  surplus  cash,  which  should 
be  applied  to  the  Army  Fund.  The  army, 
this  is  the  power — the  shining  glaive  of  Ga- 
briel! before  it,  Treason,  Satan  political,  must 
recoil!  Sift  out  those  ancient  leaders  who  en- 
cumber the  paths  to  glory  and  by  their  lamenta- 
tions dispirit  recruits.  Make  the  restless,  burn- 
ing-spirited officers  of  fortune  so  many  Mar- 
shals of  France,  being  the  small-change  of  the 
Lord  High  Constable,  whose  office  abolish! 
though  a  Montmorency  holds  it!  It  is  a  one- 
man  power  which  must  not  be  a  stumbling- 
block — perhaps  a  headsman's  block,  to  a  prime 
minister.   Nominally,  let  the  King  replace  him, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  81 

as  the  Commander-in-chief,  but  the  actual 
generalissimo  must  be  a  number  of  lieutenants, 
holding  one  another  in  check,  like  Alexander 
the  Great's. 

"In  the  same  way  as  you  purify  the  Church 
of  the  foreigner,  so  purge  the  Army  of  those 
outlandish  rodomonts,  the  reiters,  lanzknechts, 
spadassins,  bravoes,  Switzer  mercenaries!  Let 
every  soldier  feel  that  he  touches  elbows  with 
a  fellow-countryman,  and  that  his  dying  words 
v.  ill  be  understood  by  his  comrade — who  may 
bear  them  to  parents  or  sweetheart  unadulter- 
ated. Let  him  feel,  as  is  not  the  case  at  pres- 
ent— you  know,  who  have  seen  camp  life — 
that  wherever  the  shot  struck  him,  he  fell  into 
French  arms,  with  Frenchmen  around  him,  for 
France!" 

He  spoke  on,  streaming  with  perspiration,  for 
the  cottage  had  become  hot  as  a  furnace  from 
the  storm  being  highly  electrical,  but  he  was 
almost  as  unconscious  of  the  elemental  warring 
without  as  Simon,  drenched  under  the  eaves, 
still  listening,  encharmed. 

"With  a  homogeneous  army,"  continued  the 
enthusiast,  "you  may,  in  a  lifetime,  join,  to 
France,  the  Low  Countries,  a  slice  of  the 
Rhenish  duchies,  and  then — Catalonia!  some 
partition  of  Spain,  which  must  be  separated 
from  Portugal!  When  you  lay  down  the  pen — 
the  new-time  sceptre  of  the  ruler — you  will  be 
the  Premier  Minister  who  will  have  left  a  grand 
and  mighty  dominion  in  France  to  your  suc- 
cessor!" 

The  hermit  felt  his  heart  wrarm.  Then,  doubt 
seizing  him,  as  he  summed  up  all  he  could  re- 
member of  the  astute,  persevering  tutor  of  the 
Bishop  Alphonse,  he  murmured: 

"What  does  this  far-seeing,  much-grasping 


82  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

projector  mean  to  draw  into  his  own  bag,  while 
bolstering  up  this  boy  to  take  the  golden  apples 
from  the  dragon-guarded  garden?  the  Court, 
and  politicians'  playground?  Would  he  be  con- 
tent to  be  the  Minister's  father-confessor?  I 
doubt  that!  let  me  hear  more — " 

But  while  he  was  straining  the  ear,  mechani- 
cally shaking  off  the  rain-sheets,  for  he  might 
as  well  have  stood  under  a  cataract,  the  clouds 
were  concentrated  by  a  stupendous  gathering 
of  all  the  winds  towards  one  point.  In  those 
black  masses  the  potent  fluid  was  also  col- 
lected to  an  impossibility  of  the  vapor  still 
longer  confining  it.  One  sharp  collision  caused 
a  tremendous  explosion.  The  earth  quaked  and 
the  trees  waved  as  their  roots  vibrated. 
Branches  fell,  wrenched  off  as  the  leaves  had 
previously  fallen.  A  fall  of  rain  overwhelmed 
the  forest,  bearing  down  the  foliage,  and  the 
lightning  descended  upon  the  cottage,  from  the 
recent  clearing  placing  it  in  an  opening,  like  a 
colossal  fireball  hurled  from  a  celestial  cata- 
pult. 

As  if  it  were  aimed  at  the  huge  hornbeam, 
it  struck  it  in  all  its  broad  magnificence,  and 
in  a  moment  it  was  splinters,  and  a  hole  in  the 
sodden  ground,  where  the  lately-buried  clay, 
brought  to  the  surface  instantaneously, 
gleamed  yellow  as  gold  in  the  flashing  light, 
alone  showed  where  it  had  flourished. 

Never  again  would  the  dryads  listen,  there, 
to  the  love-talk  of  Armand  and  Ramire!  Hav- 
ing heaped  up  the  fragments,  the  bolt  scattered 
likewise  into  many  portions,  and  chasing  one 
another  like  fiery  serpents,  one  or  two  darted 
at  the  cottage,  and  brought  more  in  their  wake. 

The  cottage  was  old ;  the  timbers  were  worm- 
eaten  and  brittle  with  rot;   the  stones,  hewn 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  83 

without  regard  to  their  grain,  were  also  crumb- 
ling. The  shock  had  disintegrated  them  both. 
Now.  all  tottered  and  fell  apart,  like  a  paste- 
board house  on  the  stage. 

Over  the  heads  of  the  preacher  and  his 
motionless  auditor,  the  roof  slid  to  one  side 
from  the  wind;  the  walls  toppled  outwards  in 
four  directions,  and  that  to  the  lee  swerving 
round,  the  unfortunate  eavesdropper  was 
caught  between  them  and  crushed  in  their 
united  mass. 

"My  child!    Ramire!   never  again  shall  I — " 

He  died  without  further  wTord. 

In  the  midst  of  the  reverberations,  Armand 
rose,  staggering,  to  his  feet.  The  shock  had 
overcome  the  narcotic,  as  well  as  the  sudden 
coldness  in  the  rain,  no  longer  prevented  delug- 
ing the  pair  by  the  disappeared  roof. 

At  the  same  moment,  the  priest  w7as  about  to 
lift  him  up  and  carry  him  out  of  the  ring  of 
ruin. 

Armand  looked  at  him,  like  a  pythoness  re- 
covering from  her  draught,  and  said,  in  a  voice 
part-strangled,  wholly  unearthly,  with  the  air 
of  unconsciousness  of  the  storm: 

"Father  Joseph,  I  have  heard  you,  and  I 
obey  your  call,  more  promptly  than  your  pre- 
vious teachings.  Wherefore  this  obedience — 
this  eagerness  and  coincidence  with  your 
views?  because  they  are  ideas  which  leap  to- 
wards the  same  goal  as  the  fleetest  and  most 
spirited  of  mine!" 

While  another  flash  irradiated  the  scene,  and 
the  thunder  from  a  former  volley  resounded, 
Joseph  stared  at  the  speaker  as  though,  like  a 
new  Ithuriel,  he  had  touched  and  transfigured 
a  demon  whom  he  had  heretofore  considered  as 
an  innocent  sprite. 


84      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"I  joy  to  hear  that,"  faltered  he,  aghast. 
Then  he  muttered: 

"Ambitious  beyond  my  knowledge!  what  if 
he  aims  at  my  own  mark,  indeed?"  The  thun- 
der crackled  about  them  and  the  youth  seemed 
to  stand  with  a  species  of  glory  about  his 
head,  his  hair  rising  and  standing  out  in  the 
wet. 

"Let  us  hasten  from  the  wood!"  cried  out  the 
Capuchin.  "The  wind  is  whirling  fragments 
of  destroyed  things  about  us  and  may  over- 
whelm us! — as  it  has — " 

He  checked  himself. 

"Why  do  you  bid  me  hasten  and  yet  pause? 
why  do  you  stare?" 

"At  nothing!    Come  away!" 

Joseph  had  seen  a  portion  of  a  white  face, 
the  rest  crushed  out  of  mortal  likeness,  in  the 
debris  of  the  cottage.  He  had  guessed  that  the 
old  hermit  had  played  the  spy,  to  his  destruc- 
tion. 

Armand  refused  the  hand  which  the  monk 
offered,  as  if  desirous  to  show  that  he  had  re- 
covered his  strength  with  his  wits,  and  as  if  to 
show  additionally  that  he  was  undaunted  by 
the  continuing  uproar,  he  strode  over  the  ruins, 
as  one  who  mounted  a  battered  bastion,  and 
reaching  the  other  side  extended  his  hand  to 
assist  the  other,  with  a  commanding  air. 

The  monk,  this  time,  also  rejected  the  offer, 
in  the  same  way,  but  pretended  to  be  embar- 
rassed by  his  frock  amid  the  shattered  beams. 

Side  by  side  they  stood  near  the  gap  whence 
the  tree  had  been  torn  and  shivered. 

So  lofty  was  the  carriage  of  the  young  man 
that  the  monk  repressed  an  inclination  to  em- 
brace him  as  his  pupil  elect. 

Richelieu  bounded  through  the  wood,  where 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  85 

the  path  was  strewn  with  broken  boughs  and 
heaped  with  leaves,  as  well  as  channeled  by 
the  rushing  rivulets.  Joseph  du  Tremblay  fol- 
lowed, become  meek  and  submissive,  like  a  dog 
which  had  at  last  found  a  master  in  a  play- 
mate. Armand  pressed  on,  in  a  kind  of  ecstasy, 
as  if  all  the  scene  were  novel,  as  well  as  ex- 
hilarating to  him.  The  Young  Men  of  Ephe- 
sus,  awakened  to  the  world,  after  their  stupor, 
would  not  have  stepped  out  more  buoyantly. 

''Has  he  forgotten  the  girl — forgotten  love, 
upon  this  third  spur  added  to  his  own?" 
thought  the  monk. 

All  was  dreary,  though  Armand  was  so 
jocund.  The  rain  had  ceased  to  pour,  but  the 
trees  dripped  and  drenched  the  wanderers. 

A  large  pool,  where  all  had  been  dry  to  Ra- 
mire's  foot  some  hours  before,  stopped  the 
pair. 

The  young  marquis  turned  round  abruptly  on 
his  follower. 

"I  know  now  who  it  was  vou  must  have  seen, 
dead,  in  the  cottage  ruins,"  said  he.  "It  was 
Simon  the  hermit." 

"He  was  listening,"  exclaimed  the  monk,  as 
a  sort  of  excuse  for  his  heartlessness  in  not 
staying  to  succor  the  recluse. 

"He  was  certainly  dead!"  responded  Ar- 
mand, gloomy  as  suddenly  as  he  had  become 
gladsome.  "It  is  well  that  his  is  not  inevitably 
the  spy's  doom,"  he  went  on  sarcastically,  "re- 
calling the  use  you  recommended  the  future 
governor  of  France  to  make  of  espionage!" 

Inside  the  hood,  drawn  up  and  over  to  keep 
out  the  showers  from  the  trees,  a  sound  was 
heard,  probably  the  monk's  laugh. 

He  was  proud  of  his  pupil,  again. 

"To  tht1  chateau,"  said  he  in  a  light  tone.    "I 


86  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

have  a  cavalier's  suit  of  black  in  my  valise, 
which  will  serve  for  your  mourning." 

"Ah!  Father  Joseph,"  said  the  other,  taking 
him  by  the  arm  to  aid  him  to  cross  the  pool, 
"you  fear  to  trust  me  out  of  your  sight?  You 
are  not  right!  but  keep  with  me!  Keep  with 
me  all  my  life,  and  you  will  see  things  to 
which  the  events  of  this  night  are  as  pages  of  a 
child's  chapbook  to  those  in  'Jerusalem  De- 
livered!' " 

"We  will  deliver  France?"  cried  out  Joseph. 

"We  will!" 

"Yea,"  muttered  the  Capuchin,  while  he  em- 
braced the  young  aspirer  to  the  Premiership, 
and,  his  cowl  falling  back  in  the  act,  he  showed 
his  leathery  face,  with  prominent  nose  and 
gleaming,  hollow  eyes  lighted  by  the  sulphur- 
ous flame  from  the  storm-clouds,  "yes,  you  will 
deliver  France — as  Simon  delivered  you  to  me 
— helpless — to  Rome!" 

At  last,  violent  storms  sweep  the  skies  of 
all  vestige  of  their  furrowing  the  azure  field. 
But  the  ground  was  covered  with  tokens  of 
the  injuries  wrought,  and  many  a  cottage 
thatch  was  being  repaired  in  the  early  morn- 
ing. It  was  lovely,  and  the  tapping  of  the  wood- 
pecker in  the  devastated  forest  was  echoed  by 
that  of  the  hammer  in  the  chapel,  where  the 
decorators  were  fastening  up  the  marquis's  es- 
cutcheon, with  the  hatchments  of  those  fami- 
lies bereaved  by  the  same  fatality. 

The  preparations  for  the  funeral  were  not 
hurried.  In  those  days  of  cumbersome  ve- 
hicles and  bad  roads,  time  had  to  be  accorded 
for  the  distantly  situated,  perhaps  connections 
exceedingly  touchy  upon  punctilio  and  ques- 
tions of  rights  and  standing. 

Besides,  there  was  the  feast  to  be  attended 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  87 

to;  involving  sending  to  Paris  for  a  major- 
domo  who  understood  the  latest  court  dishes 
for  the  delectation  of  the  squires  and  their 
dames,  and  their  surprise. 

Through  funeral  and  feast,  Armand  de  Rich- 
elieu bore  himself  with  a  quiet  dignity  which, 
devoid  of  exuberant  grief,  testified  that  he 
knew  how  to  behave  as  chief  mourner.  Bishop 
Alphonse  had  arrived,  but,  under  the  plea  that 
he  needed  solitude  to  compose  the  sermon  over 
his  brother's  remains,  he  closeted  himself  with 
his  familiar  spirit,  the  monk  Joseph,  and  the 
young  lord  stood  alone — not  requiring  a  tutor 
any  longer,  said  all  observers. 

It  was  remarked  that,  brief  though  his  mili- 
tary experience  had  been,  it  had  already  given 
him  a  carriage  so  martial  that  it  wTon  to  him 
all  the  ladies-  hearts  and  the  outspoken  praise 
of  those  old  relatives,  ex-heroes  of  the  Wars 
of  the  League. 

But  already  the  rumor  was  afloat,  without 
any  one  being  able  to  point  to  the  originator, 
that,  overpowered  with  sorrow  at  the  loss  of 
his  brother,  he  meant  to  quit  the  path  to  glory 
and  glide  down  the  cloistered  way  by  which 
his  other  brothers  (for  Louis  had  come,  to  be 
"clerk"  to  the  Bishop  for  the  nonce)  had 
eclipsed  themselves  in  the  Church. 

"Better  stay  in  the  world,  if  only  to  revenge 
his  murdered  brother!"  said  more  than  one 
greybeard,  noted  for  a  quick  hand  at  a  sharp 
rapier  in  youth. 

"Wait!"  said  the  more  sagacious.  "I  wager 
that  he  will  not  gulp  down  all  the  vows  in 
haste!  That  will  enable  him  to  wear  and  draw 
the  sword  on  occasion,  even  like  unto  that  little 
abbe  in  Paris  who  is  making  a  name  for  him- 
self, by  displaying  his  fiamberge,  as  you  rare 


88       RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

old  tilters  used  to  style  your  swords,  more  of- 
ten than  his  psalter." 

"What  is  his  name,  and  what  name  is  he 
making?"  asked  the  curious. 

The  provincial  gentry  were  as  eager  for  news 
from  the  capital  at  that  day  as  at  a  later  one. 

"What  is  his  devil  of  a  name? — this  abbe's? 
— ah,  I  have  it — he  is  the  shadow  of  the  Bishop 
of  Paris — and  he  is  one  Gondi." 

The  name  found  no  greeting;  the  future  Co- 
adjutor of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  had  not,  by 
years,  attained  the  apex  of  his  notoriety,  and 
none  here  divined  how  he  would  figure  in  the 
contests  of  the  Fronde. 

They  could  have  divined  the  future  of  Kich- 
elieu  sooner! 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  89 


CIIAPTER    V. 
THE  POPULAR  RESORT. 

At  the  present  day,  whoever  wishes  to  leave 
Paris,  convinced  that  he  has  studied  it  con- 
scientiously if  not  thoroughly,  must  give  a  pro- 
longed glance,  to  say  the  least,  to  the  Pont 
Neuf. 

Now,  thanks  to  the  extension  of  the  leading 
city,  it  is  vulgarised.  In  the  early  decades  of 
the  17th  century,  so  much  to  the  contrary  of 
this  aspect  was  its  position,  that  it  was  the 
rendezvous  of  fashionable  people,  not  merely 
in  the  broad  dav,  but  in  the  dark  hours  when 
the  highest  noblemen,  having  exhausted  all 
legitimate  pleasures,  did  not  hesitate  to  ''oper- 
ate" as  cloak-pullers  and  cutpurses,  like  the 
veriest  thief. 

In  reality,  its  sides  continued  the  promenade, 
always  gratifying  to  the  lounger,  from  the  Bas- 
tile,  one  way,  and  the  Conference  Gate,  on  the 
other,  over  the  River  Seine. 

The  same  stalls  and  booths  for  the  sale  of 
goods,  as  varied  and  exotic  as  the  vendors, 
lined  the  thoroughfare. 

Extraneous,  too,  were  the  lookers-on,  of 
whom  a  goodly  number,  decidedly  strangers 
and  foreigners,  were  the  purchasers  of  those  ar- 
ticles even  then  considered  Parisian  and  with- 
out a  like  in  other  cities.  These  visitors  were 
identifiable  as  having  but  temporary  dwell- 
ings by  their  eating  the  oublies  and  simnels,  as 
well  as  the  legs  of  roast  fowl  (wrapped  in  green 
leaves,  we  admit)  as  they  strolled  on,  gaping, 


90  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

between    mouthful  s,    with    new    amazement. 

The  parapets  of  the  river  edge  and  the  rails 
of  the  bridge  were  hardly  to  be  discerned,  so 
many  persons  leaned  upon  them  to  cast  peb- 
bles into  the  stream  and  count  the  rings  on 
it  so  made,  or  to  ga"e,  by  the  hour,  at  the  most 
patient  of  beings,  then,  as  hereafter,  the  Paris- 
ian fisherman. 

The  Port  lay  under  their  eyes;  vessels  from 
as  far  as  the  river  mouth  testified  that  the 
Parisians  who  had  accompanied  the  army  to 
the  Siege  of  La  Rochelle  had  not  forgotten,  in 
ten  years,  their  maritime  experiences. 

Above,  the  sky  was  of  dazzling  blue;  below, 
the  ruddy  tanned  sails — or  the  grey  ones  of 
coarse  canvas,  among  which  some  odd  private 
flags  and  streamers  floated,  half-covered  car- 
goes in  course  of  discharge,  to  which,  brought 
from  the  confines  though  they  were,  the  hard- 
ened citizen  had  ceased  to  pay  the  tribute  of 
an  exclamation  of  surprise. 

From  these  loads,  over  which  capered  sea- 
men, athletic  and  agile  as  Gibraltar  apes,  ex- 
haled odors  of  all  sorts,  from  a  blessed  perfume 
to  a  stench  of  odd  African  or  Asiatic  drugs. 

If  a  thousand  causes  of  irritation  assailed 
the  nose  of  the  rural  visitor,  as  many  for  his 
hearing  rose  to  fill  the  dusty  air. 

The  miscellaneous  music  from  an  itinerant 
show;  the  bell  of  the  parish  town-crier;  the 
beaten  sticks  of  a  vendor  of  summer  drink, 
composed  of  saloop  and  molasses,  the  beverage 
antedating  "coco,"  as  the  instruments  of  his 
appeal  to  the  public  did  the  xylophone;  the 
bawling  of  clothes-dealers;  the  hissing  of 
steam  at  the  open-air  cookshops;  the  laughter 
of  country  throats  and  children's;  the  innum- 
erable vocal  exuberance  of  a  throng — all  this 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  91 

so  dazed  a  young  gentleman  who  had  not  yet 
shaken  off  the  clay  of  the  country  highways, 
that— as  a  relief— he  welcomed  the  sonorous 
blast  of  a  military  trumpet.  It  was  blown  to 
clear  the  way. 

It  was  a  recognised  signal. 

The  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Royal  Watch 
and  of  the  City  Watch,  stopping  short  in  chat 
with  friends  in  the  gathering,  leaped  to  the 
center  of  the  street,  where  the  gutter  ran,  and 
began  to  beat  and  push  back  the  throng  with 
the  hilts  and  the  flats  of  their  swords.  They 
were  reinforced  by  the  soldiers  idling,  who, 
though  off  duty,  answered  to  the  call,  as  they 
had  likewise  recognized  the  trumpet  blast  as 
announcing  an  important  comer. 

This  double  cordon  of  all  arms,  displayed  uni- 
forms of  all  colors.  Here,  the  "Lesser  Old" 
Regiments,  the  Marines,  Normandy,  Auvergne, 
etc.,  appeared  beside  "the  Old"  ones,  four  in 
number,  Navarre,  Champagne,  Picardy  and 
Piedmont,  the  latter,  perhaps,  the  most  an- 
cient, if  truly  derived  from  the  infamous  Black 
Bands. 

"Way  for  the  Household  Troops!  the  Maison 
du  Boi!"  cried  a  thousand  persons,  overwhelm- 
ing the  appeal  of  the  Watch. 

In  a  twinkling,  so  pliable  and  collapsable  is 
a  popular  gathering  when  a  passage  must  be 
cleared  to  see  a  sight,  a  broad  path  was  traced 
through  the  dense  concourse. 

Down  this  alley,  formed  of  human  beings,  a 
second  trumpet  flourish  resounded. 

All  eyes  were  turned  towards  St.  Honore 
Street. 

"What  is  it,  citizen?"  inquired  the  young 
country  gentleman,  drawing  breath  after  being 


92      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

nearly  choked  by  the  cloud  of  dust  raised  by 
the  scuffling  of  feet. 

''The  King's  troops — escorting  his  Majesty, 
the  Queen  or  one  of  'the  Royals' — by  hasard, 
we  are  in  the  right  road  for  them  to  return 
from  seeing  one  of  the  forts  or  hunting-boxes!" 

It  was  a  veritable  procession. 

First,  two  sergeants  of  the  Royal  Watch, 
mounted  on  fair  Norman  horses,  guarding  two 
trumpeters  in  the  royal  colors,  who  blew  in 
unison,  and  like  Stentor  replacing  his  organ 
with  a  brazen  horn. 

Then,  a  body  of  pikemen  and  one  of  musket- 
eers, their  horses  led  by  grooms,  carrying  their 
extra  supply  of  cartridges — for  the^  pikemen 
being  infantry,  they  were  dismounted  out  of 
courtesy. 

"It's  the  Normandy  Regiment,"  said  the  citi- 
zen, overflowing  with  zeal  to  enlighten  the  by- 
standers, a  trait  of  the  Parisian — bless  him! 
"That  is  an  officer  with  the  spontoon — that,  a 
sergeant  for,  see!  he  carries  a  halberd!  But 
they  have  not  got  a  flag  flying!" 

The  crowd  sympathised  with  the  speaker, 
puzzled  too  by  the  partially  martial  array,  and 
the  soldiers  wearing  a  look  not  at  all  every- 
day in  a  military  career. 

"Whatever  are  they  escorting — what  guard- 
ing— in  those  wagons?  look  out!  it  may  be 
ammunition!  Powers  of  heaven!  there  is  a 
whole  train — if  a  train  of  gunpowder!"  con- 
tinued the  citizen,  unable  to  get  away  and  mak- 
ing a  joke  to  put  a  good  face  on  his  terror,  "we 
sliall  be  blown  into  the  ditch  which  wants  fill- 
ing up,  since  they  are  demolishing  the  old  Wall 
of  Charles  V.  and  it  does  not  furnish  enough 
material  for  the  job!" 

The  shudder  was  communicated  to  the  as- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  93 

semblage,  but  all  were  compacted,  and  the  way 
of  flight  open  was  only  over  the  rail  into  the 
river,  so  that  they  stood,  quivering  like  aspens. 

Then  the  escort,  perceiving  the  terror  and 
guessing  the  cause,  whispered  the  truth  to 
their  quasi-comradea  of  the  Watch,  who,  shak- 
ing with  merriment,  spoke  aloud: 

••Fools!  it  is  the  furniture  of  his  Eminence 
the  Cardinal-Minister!  he  is  removing  from  his 
old  house  in  Royal  Place,  since  it  is  too  far 
from  the  Louvre  Palace,  and  he  had  need  to  be 
always  at  the  hand  of  his  Majesty — for  the 
caballers  and  intriguers  increase  like  the  gnats 
on  the  Seine  side!" 

The  crowd  burst  into  that  hearty  laughter 
which  always  comes  at  the  heels  of  a  subdued 
panic. 

"Richelieu  may  wrell  come  to  live  at  the  Royal 
Palace,"  shouted  a  strong  voice  in  the  mass  of 
people  worst  compressed,  "as  he  is  the  king 
over  the  King!" 

This  time,  no  laughter  rose;  it  wTas  too  se- 
rious for  a  jest,  and  too  true,  perhaps,  not  to 
be  an  insult. 

The  silence  was  broken  by  pretty  music  of  a 
mounted  band. 

It  was  a  sweet  diversion,  when  feelings  were 
in  tension,  and  joyously  the  populace  shouted: 

''The  King's  guards!  they  come — with  light 
horsemen  and  the  gendarmes!" 

The  riders  surrounded  wagons,  each  drawn 
by  six  or  eight  powerful  Mecklenburg  horses, 
covered  with  canvas  and  rope-bound  so  that 
one  could  only  divine  the  goods  so  packed. 

"It's  the  Cardinal's  treasure!"  was  the  cry. 

"His  treasure,"  replied  a  monk  in  grey,  who 
stood  upon  a  keg  by  the  stall  of  a  Dutchman, 
serving  salt  herring  and  a  penny  loaf  to  all 


94      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

comers,  in  opposition  to  the  flimsy  patties  of 
the  native  cook,  "do  you  not  know  that  the 
treasure  of  the  Prime  Minister  is  his  library? 
in  which  he  learns  to  make  France  great  in 
war,  as  witness  the  Siege  and  Surrender  of  La 
Rochelle — in  peace,  as  witness  our  home  pla- 
cidity— in  finance,  as  witness  the  disgorgement 
of  the  leeches  of  the  Treasury!'' 

"Our  friend  in  grey  is  right!"  retorted  the 
same  lusty  voice  which  had  made  the  unap- 
plauded  jest  upon  the  fit  residence  under  the 
royal  roof  of  the  real  ruler  of  the  realm. 
"Well!"  with  a  mock  sigh,  like  that  accom- 
panying the  fall  of  a  pavior's  rammer,  "as  long 
as  I  do  not  have  to  read  his  poems  or  hear  his 
tragedies — let  his  library  go!" 

This  time  a  few  laughed,  and  the  wit  modest- 
ly withdrew  as  before. 

Then  the  trumpets  blared  and  all  the  train 
swept  on,  the  dust  becoming  overpowering  un- 
der the  wheels  and  hoofs. 

The  country  youth  was  astounded. 

"So  many  soldiers  to  guard  a  statesman's 
furniture!    how  grand  the  Cardinal  must  be!" 

At  the  end  of  the  procession,  drawn  into  the 
vortex  by  its  hurried  departure,  the  idlers  fol- 
lowed closely.  The  citizen  with  whom  the 
young  man  had  exchanged  a  word  or  two,  was 
carried  away,  amid  the  urchins  cheering  the 
Cardinal  and  the  King. 

But  he  was  not  without  someone  to  speak  to 
him. 

"Od's  my  life!"  said  a  voice  roughly,  "you 
had  far  better  stand  aside  than  post  yourself 
as  a  block  to  be  the  monument  of  the  Red 
Eminence,  with  your  absurd  panegyrics! 
'Great?'  great  noodle,  you!  stand  off  and  cease 
to  gape  at  the  flies!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  05 

This  was  lite  voice  of  the  twice-interrupter 

of  the  jollity  of  the  idlers. 

He  was  a  splendid  fellow,  tall  of  figure,  ro- 
bustly filled  out,  and  wearing  not  exactly  a 
uniform  so  much  as  a  composite  attire,  which 
looked  as  if  he  had  been  left  for  dead  on  a 
battlefield,  stripped  by  the  camp-followers  and, 
found  alive,  substantially  complimented  on  his 
bravery  by  his  comrades  of  all  arms  contribut- 
ing, each  corps,  towards  his  fresh  equipment. 

One  learned  in  the  tailoring  for  the  army, 
might  have  laid  his  finger  on  the  different  ar- 
ticles making  up  this  dazzling  suit  and  said: 

''This  harlequin  attire  is  not  of  the  Swiss  or 
the  Italian  mercenaries!  it  is  a  macedoine: 
This  undercoat  is  of  buff  leather  after  the  man- 
ner of  those  of  Maurevert's  Carotins;  it  is  cov- 
ered, to  take  off  the  cutthroat  air,  with  a  violet 
coat  with  yellow  facings,  like  those  of  the 
Norman  Regiment  which  you  just  saw  pass. 
As  for  the  hat,  it  is  of  grey  felt,  in  the  English 
style  by  the  way  it  is  pinned  up  from  the  brow ; 
but  the  scarlet  feathers  pretend  to  claim  a  reg- 
ular attachment  to  the  royal  household.  In 
short,  this  is  a  jay  tricked  out  with  the  war- 
hawTk's  feathers!" 

Fortunately,  perchance,  for  such  a  commen- 
tator, he  did  not  say  anything  of  the  like. 

In  silence,  therefore,  after  his  outburst,  the 
free-lance  regarded  the  young  man  wTho,  as  if 
he  was  stupefied  by  the  address,  still  barred 
his  way. 

He  was  not  in  the  mode,  that  wTas  clear.  His 
black  hat  had  a  narrow  rim,  and  but  one  black 
plume;  it  was  in  harmony  with  the  unfash- 
ionable cloth  of  his  doublet  and  small  cloak 
of  the  same  sombre  hue.  He  wore  gilt  spurs 
and  had  a  swordbelt  without  the  weapon.  Per- 


96  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

haps,  though  he  seemed  rather  melancholy 
than  sanguine,  he  feared  to  venture  among  the 
crowd  where  a  hasty  word  leads  to  a  hasty 
blow,  and  a  hasty  blow  to  the  Chatelet  Prison. 
Even  in  the  remotest  province,  rumor  had  car- 
ried the  news  that  Paris  was  no  longer  at  the 
mercy  of  the  common  ruffian  by  day  and  the 
noble  ribalds  by  night. 

What  particularly  curled  the  lip  of  the  stal- 
wart man  in  the  picturesque  array  of  military 
garbs,  was  the  silent  goat's  beard,  which,  with 
a  budding  moustache,  traced  a  triangle  or 
rather  three  parts  of  a  cross  on  the  handsome 
face  of  the  youth.  His  long  hair  was  not  so 
black  but  fell  in  brown  curls,  to  square  should- 
ers. His  eyes  were  clear  grey  and  full  of  as- 
surance as  they  watched  this  bullying  char- 
acter. 

"Death  of  my  life!"  roared  the  latter,  suf- 
ficiently satisfied,  it  would  appear,  with  his 
scrutiny,  "it  does  not  please  me  to  turn  in  and 
out  of  this  mob  like  a  rustic  'threading  the 
needle,'  on  the  market  green!  as  you  say!" 

The  youth  in  black  had  not  breathed  a  syl- 
lable. 

"It  does  not  please  me,  and  I  shall  not  twist 
and  turn  to  please  these  gawky  starers  who 
encumber  the  good  streets!  Will  you  or  will 
you  not  make  way,  in  the  name  of  the  Master- 
Fiend?" 

The  passers-by  stopped,  collected  in  a  ring, 
and  their  rows  augmented  like  deposits  of  sand 
on  the  shore. 

The  young  man  had  turned  red,  certainly, 
but  he  made  more  of  himself,  rather  than 
shrank,  by  putting  ltis  anus  akimbo  most  inso- 
lently,  or  in   dignity,   as   you    please,  and  he 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  97 

continued  to  look  the  cavalier  of  heterogeneous 
costume  in  the  eves. 

"Make  room,  do  you  hear?  or  have  you  come 
to  town  to  be  treated  for  hardness  of  hearing 
by  one  of  those  quacks  over  there  by  the  thea- 
ter of  Master  Gonin  the  juggler?  or  for  hard- 
ness of  comprehension  by  some  doctor  of  the 
Sorbonne?    Make  room  for  me,  I  say!" 

"When  you  are  less  impolite — perhaps!"  re- 
plied the  young  gentleman,  in  a  clear  and  firm 
voice. 

"And  who  are  you,  pray,  to  ask  a  soldier  of 
qualitv  and  officer — of  fortune — to  behave  po- 
litely?" 

"I  am  not  a  low-born  braggadocio,  at  all 
events!" 

A  murmur  of  the  lookers-on  proved  that,  as 
ever,  the  wasp  was  being  favored  in  his  en- 
counter with  the  bumble-bee. 

''What  is  the  title  of  our  high-born  gentle- 
man, then?"  sneered  the  other  without  taking 
up  the  epithet. 

But  he  fingered  his  cutlass,  a  dragoon  sword 
of  the  Ottoman  pattern  which  might  have  been 
worn  bv  a  Sobieski. 

"My  name  is  Didier." 

"Nothing  at  the  tail  of  it,  as  even  a  cur, 
sometimes,  has  a  tinpot?" 

The  other  turned  crimson  and  his  lip  bled 
from  a  nip  of  his  fine  teeth. 

Some  women  crossed  themselves  and  said — 
not  "Poor  boy!"  but  "Poor  mother!"  Men 
laughed  and  the  officer  of  fortune  roared  with 
mirth. 

"All  foundlings  are  noblemen  in  Spain,"  said 
he,  "but  you  will  have  to  bring  something 
stronger  than  mere  assertion  into  our  courts  to 
prove  your  pedigree!    But,  I  suppose,  you  sup- 


98  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

pose  that  your  goatee  in  the  Cardinalistic  mode 
will  suffice  to  get  you  a  post  in  his  Eminence's 
service?  No  doubt  you  lifted  your  hat  and  vou 
cheered  as  his  bed,  bedding  and  books  went 
by,  escorted!  degradation  of  the  army  and  the 
body  guards,  by  my  faith!  by  a  whole  regi- 
ment, if  you  summed  up  the  number!  a  pretty 
escort  to  his  books  and  unplayed  tragedies!  I 
begrudge  him  it  all — albeit  I  should  allow  him 
the  whole  garrison  of  Paris  if  they  took  him  to 
the  Execution  Place  on  the  Strand!  this  Pa- 
triarch of  the  Atheists!" 

The  crowd  drew  back;  his  repeated  insults 
to  the  Minister  alarmed  them,  fearing  that  it 
was  part  of  a  plot  to  draw  out  confidence  and 
warrant  a  wholesale  arrest. 

Several,  who  had  accepted  pamphlets,  prob- 
ably advertisements  of  new  cookshops  but  pos- 
sibly libels  against  the  State  Minister,  surrep- 
titiously slipped  them  from  their  pockets  and 
dropped  them  over  the  parapet  or  at  their  feet. 

"Stay,  sir!"  cried  Didier,  with  a  flaming  face, 
clapping  his  hand  to  his  side  for  the  missing 
sword,  "as  long  as  you  annoyed  me,  I  regarded 
it  little,  for  I  am  no  quarreller,  but  as  you  in- 
sult the  representative  of  the  King,  and  the 
head  of  the  State  government,  I — " 

"You!  you  talk  big  because  you  dared  not 
come  to  town  until  hearing  that  duelling  is 
under  an  embargo!  this  comes  from  having  a 
churchman  to  govern  a  kingdom!  but  learn, 
jackanapes,  that  the  officers  of  the  army  crop 
the  ears  of  all  who  puff  up  the  fame  of  this 
bloated  spider  who  sits  in  the  web  and  pulls 
the  threads  by  which  he  entraps  all  the  good 
souls  of  France!" 

The  young  man  looked  round  on  the  faces. 
The  good  citizen  who  had  stood  by  him  caught 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  99 

his  glance,  having  returned  at  the  scuffle  and 
recognized  the  rural  squire — to  his  delight — 
as  we  all  like  to  see  our  own  acquaintances  in 
a  snarl. 

"Here,"  said  Didier,  dextrously  tossing  him 
a  coin,  "hire  me,  of  that  honest  dealer  in  old 
iron,  a  bit  of  a  sword  for  half  an  hour,  for  that 
silver  louis!" 

On  the  edge  of  the  passage-way,  a  second- 
hand metal  seller  displayed  odds  and  ends, 
among  which  figured  two  or  three  old  blades 
which  perchance  had  armed  the  paladins  of 
the  Round  Table  or,  less  fantastically,  the  pan- 
oplied heroes  of  Pavia. 

"I  will  get  you  the  blade,  my  faith!"  cried  the 
citizen,  "but' allow  me  to  pay  for  it  out-and- 
out!  it  will  be  an  honor  for  me  to  arm  so  gentle 
a  cavalier!" 

"Get  him  a  toasting-fork!"  sneered  the  of- 
ficer of  fortune.  "Or  have  you  not  such  a  pole 
as  they  use  in  teaching  bears  to  dance!  I  will 
lay  aside  my  sabre  for  it  and  teach  young  Dicl- 
dler  here  to  dance  as  elegantly  as  his  patron 
did  before  the  Queen,  that  day  when  he  ad- 
mired her — save  his  impudence!  and  did  not 
want  us  to  make  war  with  her  brother  of 
Spain!" 

"This  passes  all  bounds,"  said  Didier,  to 
whom  was  handed  a  rapier.  It  was  somewhat 
rusty,  but  it  would  serve  for  the  lethal  stroke 
in  capable  hands;  and  by  the  way  the  young 
stranger  handled  it,  it  seemed  to  have  arrived 
there. 

At  the  same  time,  remarkable  still  more, 
since  it  went  by  several  sets  of  fingers  not  par- 
ticularly clean,  the  silver  piece  returned. 

"Your  money!"  said  the  citizen,  beaming 
with  rapture  at  being  a  sort  of  subsidiary  hero. 


100     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Let  them  drink  it  to  the  victor's  health!" 
said  Didier,  all  the  more  loftily  as  it  did  not 
look  as  if  he  had  many  more  in  his  black  velvet 
purse,  flat  as  a  scapulary. 

The  crowd  cheered,  though — heaven  knows! 
a  silver  louis  of  seventeen  sous  would  go  but 
a  short  way  amid  such  a  number. 

The  officer  of  fortune  frowned.  He  had  evi- 
dently entrapped  himself  and  had  the  air  of  one 
abandoned  by  his  supporters,  but  he  was  too 
far  committed  to  retire. 

"So  you  are  armed  to  support  your  obsolete 
trumpeting  of  the  Tyrant  in  Scarlet!  Now, 
I'm  called  Malargue,  the  Anspessade  of  the 
Canton-of-Uri  Spears!  Duelling  is  my  recrea- 
tion, as  warfare  my  standing  dish!  On  guard, 
to  defend  your  boor  of  a  Cardinal!  as  the  Court 
calls  him!" 

"Hold!"  said  the  monk  in  grey,  advancing, 
with  the  mob  making  way  in  less  reverence 
than  respect  for  sharp  elbows  industriously  ap- 
plied, and  his  rope  girdle,  used,  as  a  flagellant 
might  his  scourge,  to  the  dilatory  boys. 

All  turned  their  attention  to  him,  and  mur- 
mured, thinking  that  his  cloth  would  compel 
him  to  put  an  end  to  the  dispute  just  as  it  was 
becoming  worth  witnessing. 

"The  weapons  are  unequal!"  said  he  cavalier- 
ly, as  though  he  had  been  all  his  life  on  the 
"field  of  honor"  and  not  apparently  in  aisles 
and  cloisters.  "That  scimetar  and  a  Toledo 
rapier — fie!  Is  there  not  a  gentleman  within 
hearing  who  will  lend  this  officer — of  fortune — ■ 
his  blade?" 

"I  am  not  an  officer,  only  a  sub-officer,"  said 
a  sergeant  of  the  City  Watch.  "I  am  off  duty 
and  I  will  lend  my  sword." 

He  handed  the  weapon  to  Anspessade  Ma- 


OR,  RICHELIET'  DEFIED.  M 

largue  with  the  familiarity  existing  between 
officers  of  fortune — that  is,  those  who  foughl 
their  way  from  the  ranks — and  the  under-of- 
ficers,  for  the  officers  by  appointment  were  of 
the  nobility  and  shunned  the  base-born. 

The  other  brandished  it  as  one  used  to  all 
arms,  and  smiled. 

"Are  we  never  going  to  begin?"  said  he 
quickly.  "After  all,  and  despite  an  officer  of 
the  Watch  assisting  materially,  the  regula- 
tions forbid  duelling — " 

"It  is  not  a  duel  to  defend  the  rulers  of  the 
realm  from  aspersions,"  interposed  the  belli- 
cose grey  monk,  his  voice  sounding  hollow  in 
his  hood.  "Like  this  soldier,  representing  the 
civic  armed  hand,  I  speak  for  the  Church  Mili- 
tant! let  it  go  on!" 

The  crowd  stared  with  wonderment.  This 
was  no  ordinarv  combat. 

The  feeling  of  its  importance  spread.  The 
dealers  ceased  to  vociferate  praise  of  their 
goods;  the  singers  of  ballads  were  hushed  and 
lowered  their  oriflammes,  composed  of  song- 
sheets  on  a  cross-stick  at  the  end  of  a  pole; 
the  vendors  cf  miraculous  cure-alls  and  poma- 
tums for  all  purposes,  "and  others,"  rested 
their  lungs;  the  marionettes  hung  as  if  in  ar- 
ticulo  mortis  at  the  ends  of  their  wires;  and 
not  a  thirsty  or  an  admiring  soul  stood  with 
open  mouth  at  the  spout  of  water  from  a  street 
fountain  at  the  bridge  head. 

Above  all,  the  Tuscan  bronze  horse,  not  yet 
surmounted  by  the  Henry  IV.  statue,  was  rap- 
idly covered  by  sight-seers. 

"Yes,  yes,  let  the  combat  go  on!"  was  the 
general  cry. 

The  majority  were  for  the  younger  and  weak- 
er man,   which  i3  a  popular  weakness;    and 


-102     RED  ROBS  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Didier  lost  little  by  espousing  the  unpopular 
side,  for  the  Parisians  detested  Richelieu  with 
almost  the  acrimony  of  the  Court  party. 

"Wait  another  moment,"  interrupted  a  tall 
man  who  had  leaped  down  from  a  play-actor's 
booth  platform  on  seeing  that  the  throng  had 
eyes  and  ears  solely  for  the  duel  in  prospect 
and  not  for  the  glorious  lines  of  Mairet  and 
Garnier.  He  was  attired  in  an  Oriental  cos- 
tume, as  the  Orient  was  misunderstood  at  the 
period,  almost  as  gorgeous  as  Anspessade  Ma- 
largue's  habit,  but  less  lustrous  with  newness. 
On  his  head  was  one  of  those  round  caps,  not 
unlike  a  turban,  worn  in  the  early  days  of 
Louis  XIII.  by  old  noblemen,  but  its  prepos- 
terous ostrich  feathers,  of  dubious  white  and 
in  sad  need  of  curling,  drooped  over  a  sharp 
face  and  hook  nose;  his  complexion  was  made 
Moorish  with  a  smear  of  Spanish  brown.  He 
wore  a  frayed  satin  doublet,  but  a  bnrnoosG 
over  it  instead  of  cloak.  His  loose  full  breeches 
were  caught  up  into  the  tight  round-top  of 
postillion's  boots,  of  which  the  funnel  top  had 
been  sheared  off,  to  give  an  Oriental  air,  no 
doubt. 

He  carried  a  sword-sash  in  which  was  stuck 
a  horse-pistol  and  a  straight  sword,  for  want 
of  a  yataghan. 

This  motley  character,  with  the  assurance  of 
one  habituated  to  speak  in  public,  continued: 

"This  combat  requires  seconds,  and,  behold! 
I  am  willing  to  figure  by  the  side  of  the  illus- 
trious Captain  Malargue,  whom  I  knew  at  the 
Siege  of  Pampeluna !" 

The  keen-eyed  saw  him  exchange  a  knowing 
wink  with  the  anspessade.  They  were  surely 
bottle-companions  if  not  comrades  of  battle. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  L03 

"I  accept  the  second,"  said  Malargue,  prob- 
ably not  grieved  at  being  reinforced. 

Didier  looked  round.  The  grey  monk  cer- 
tainly befriended  him,  but  one  could  not  ex- 
pect a  Capuchin  to  be  second  in  a  duel,  al- 
though he  had  encouraged  it. 

"Will  any  one  be  my  second?"  inquired  he. 

We  have 'stated  that  he  had  the  general  sym- 
pathy, but,  after  all,  duelling  was  an  infraction 
of  the  royal  and  civic  police  laws,  and  there 
was  a  wide  difference  between  urging  on  com- 
batants from  over  the  hedge  and  stepping  into 
the  field  to  be  remembered  afterwards  as  next 
to  the  principals  in  the  encounter.  So  a  hush 
and  quiet  fell  upon  the  tumultuous  spectators. 

"Will  you  have  me,  since  you  welcomed  the 
Capuchin?"  said  a  squeaking  voice  with  sar- 
casm. 

The  citizens  made  way  for  an  ungainly  little 
man  in  the  black  dress  of  an  abbe.  The  women 
crossed  themselves  and  whispered:  "The  Abbe 
of  Notre  Dame!  hail  to  M.  de  Gondi!" 

Gondi  had  added  to  his  gown,  cap  and  rosary, 
a  sword  and  its  belt,  the  former  holding  its  own 
with  the  Spanish  rapier  of  Didier  for  length 
and  savage  aspect.  He  alleged  that  he  had  so 
much  visiting  to  do  at  night  in  the  rough  and 
perilous  district  in  which  are  situated  St. 
Jacques  of  the  Slaughterhouses,  the  Cathe- 
dral, its  ill-famed  purlieus,  and  the  vale  of  the 
Palais  Royal,  that  he  was  obliged  to  go  armed. 
In  the  later  times  of  the  Fronde,  his  sword- 
bearing  was  alleged  to  have  been  not  merely 
the  outcome  of  a  belligerent  spirit,  which  the 
abbe  possessed  to  overflowing,  but  proper  to  a 
drill-instructor  who  marshaled  insurgents  for 
hostile  operations. 

Didier  had  some  sense,  though  young,  for  he 


104  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

studied  the  face  of  the  crowd  at  this  offer; 
since  no  one  laughed,  he  concluded  that  he 
might  rely  on  this  sword,  though  in  the  hand 
more  accustomed  to  the  holy-water  sprinkler, 
and  said  cheerily: 

"I  accept  the  abbe!" 

Certainly  the  priest  must  have  commanded 
respect,  for  no  one  so  much  as  smiled  at  the 
somewhat  ridiculous  confrontation  of  the  prin- 
cipals and  their  seconds. 

Didier,  youthful,  pitted  against  a  veteran 
warsman;  the  Matamore,  who  pretended  to 
have  been  a  real  soldier  before  he  went  upon 
the  stage,  against  a  little  appendage  of  the 
Cathedral! 

Meanwhile  the  lookers-on  fell  back  to  have  a 
clear  field  for  the  combatants,  so  that  on  one 
side  the  bridge  parapet  was  a  barrier  and  on 
the  three  others  the  compact  gazers. 

They  were  to  witness  a  pretty  clashing  of 
steel,  after  all. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  105 


CHAPTER   VI. 
WANTED,  A  DEMON. 

The  Matamore,  perhaps  full  of  the  tradition- 
al antagonism  of  Church  and  State,  notified 
the  other  second  that,  in  accordance  with  a 
usage  going  out  of  date,  he  was  ready  to  enter- 
tain him  at  sword's  point  while  the  principals 
were  engaged,  and,  nothing  loth,  the  bellicose 
abbe  drew  his  long  sword. 

Their  collision  did  not  last  long  as  the  little 
man,  with  infinite  dexterity,  warded  off  all 
thrusts  and  delivered  a  lunge  which  almost 
spitted  the  player.  He  had  his  "quantum,"  as 
his  companion,  the  quacksalver  of  his  show 
said,  while  two  or  three  of  the  players  carried 
him  off  the  scene. 

The  priest  wiped  his  rapier  negligently  and 
restored  it  to  the  sheath,  glancing  towards  his 
principal. 

Didier  found  that  his  Spanish  blade  was  ex- 
quisitely balanced  so  that  its  weight  and  length 
did  not  embarrass  him.  His  wrist  was  supple 
and  strong  and  he  bore  the  attacks  of  his  an- 
tagonist with  fortitude  while  awaiting  an  op- 
portunity to  disengage  and  thrust  in  turn.  It 
was  necessary  for  braggarts  to  understand  the 
governance  of  the  cold  steel,  and  Malargue,  for 
all  his  pretensions,  was  no  exception  to  his 
crew  of  bullies  of  the  bowling-alleys  and  tennis- 
courts.  He  continued  the  assailant,  which  al- 
ways commands  a  tolerable  amount  of  ap- 
plause. 

But,  to  his  mischance,  he  was  not  wielding 


106     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

his  favorite  weapon,  handled  like  a  broadsword 
or  cutlass,  and  going  out  of  fashion;  this 
thrusting  and  pinking  and  parrying  innumer- 
able feints,  exhausted  his  no  great  stock  of  pa- 
tience and  caution.  Besides,  the  spectators, 
after  the  manner  of  the  "gallery"  at  all  con- 
tests, did  not  scruple  in  commenting  audibly 
on  his  attire  and  bearing  and  he  was  chafed  in- 
to essaying  a  lunge  of  some  cunning  and  con- 
siderable force. 

It  was  not  only  met  with  success,  though  the 
edge  slashed  Didier's  doublet  and  changed  the 
sable  to  brown  with  a  gush  of  blood,  but  the 
young  man,  losing  touch,  darted  in  under  the 
brawny  arm  so  deadly  a  reply  that  it  would 
have  perforated  the  taller  man  had  he  not 
slipped  to  one  side.  Angered  at  the  laugh  from 
the  crowd,  taking  it  that  he  had  evaded  by  in- 
tent and  not  by  accident,  he  forgot  what  wea- 
pon he  was  using  and  attempted  a  swinging 
blow,  with  both  hands  on  his  sword.  This  blow, 
remembered  on  the  duelling-grounds  as  "the 
Jarnac  Stroke,"  from  having  been  invented  or 
notoriously  employed  by  a  Count  of  that  name, 
was  allowable  with  a  two-handed  sword  or  a 
cutting  blade,  but  outlawed  with  the  thrust- 
ing arm. 

"Hamstrung!"  cried  he,  too  confident  that  he 
had  succeeded  to  hold  his  outcry  in  triumph. 

But  quicker  than  he  or  Didier,  a  bystander 
had  perceived  the  foul  stroke  and,  snatching  a 
staff  from  a  countryman,  come  to  sell  greens 
at  the  neighboring  markets,  he  interposed  this 
stout  oaken  defence.  It  was  cleft  asunder, 
stout  and  tough  though  it  was,  but  the  very 
act  had  the  effect  of  deadening  the  force  and 
the  young  man,  receiving  the  blade  flatwise, 
was  simply  lamed  by  the  shock. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  107 

Rapidly  recovering,  for  Malargue  was  still 
smiling,  he  dropped  his  sword  as  too  honorable 

for  such  an  opponent,  and,  lowering  his  bead, 
ran  at  the  man.  He  thrust  his  head  between 
his  legs,  lifted  him  on  his  neck  and  shoulders, 
after  the  trick  seen  in  wrestling  matches  in  the 
country  fairs,  and,  running  on,  carried  him  till 
both  reached  the  parapet.  Here,  he  let  it  stop 
him;  but,  releasing  his  hold  of  Malargue,  the 
anspessade  wras  precipitated  head  first  and 
backwards  down  into  the  riyer. 

Didier  rose  and  disdained  to  look  behind  him 
as  he  turned. 

He  stalked  through  the  crowd,  rushing  to  the 
bridge  side  to  see  the  other's  fate,  and  quietly 
returned  the  rapier  to  the  dealer  in  second- 
hand iron,  with  thanks. 

But  little  did  he  appreciate  the  true  nobility 
of  the  petty  Parisian  tradesman.  With  a  dig- 
nity not  unbecoming  even  in  that  fusty,  rusty, 
snub-nosed  fellow,  he  said,  loftily  repulsing  the 
rapier : 

"It  has  been  honored  by  sharing  in  the  vie- 
tory  over  a  creature  of  bombast — it  is  too  ex- 
alted to  be  intermingled  again  with  these  com- 
mon shreds  and  scraps  of  iron!  Pray  you,  young 
sir,  keep  it!  Or,  if  you  insist  on  paying — I  will 
accept  three  silver  louis  more!  P>elieve  me,  it 
is  a  true  Spanish  blade,  forged  at  Segovia  by 
the  Brothers  Manoel.  Any  Spaniard  will  ap- 
prove of  it,  and  will  tell  you  that  Master  Ancil- 
line  Duprat  of  the  Pont  Xeuf  head-of-the-bridge 
sold  it  at  less  than  value!" 

While  Didier,  moved  by  this  unexpected  ad- 
dress, was  concluding  the  purchase  on  these 
terms,  the  fickle  spectators  of  the  double  duel 
entirely  forgot  this  hero  of  one  bout,  giving 
entire  attention  to  the  unlucky  Malargue. 


108     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

The  latter  had  been  thrown  over  at  the  third 
abutment.  The  Seine  was  embanked  at  this 
period,  but  not  as  seen  in  our  days.  Wood 
confined  the  stream  instead  of  the  stonework, 
and  mud  came  up  to  form  a  foreshore  where 
it  was  not  dredged  away  to  permit  the  dis- 
charge from  barges  close  to  the  waterside. 

It  was  into  middeep  of  mud,  called  "ooze" 
by  the  mariners,  a  playful  epithet  for  the  fresh- 
water sailors  of  the  Seine,  that  the  bully  had 
fallen  head-foremost. 

Fortunately,  the  contact  with  the  mire  cooled 
him  and  while  he  floundered  head  uppermost, 
his  sight  and  sense  returned  to  him,  though 
the  mask  of  slime  over  his  countenance  and 
erstwhile  handsome  coat  was  thick. 

He  reflected  that  he  had  perhaps  been 
pitched  into  the  water  as  a  direct  interposi- 
tion of  his  good  angel. 

"That  monk  in  grey,"  said  he  quickly  to  him- 
self, "bears  an  uncommonly  strong  resem- 
blance in  what  I  could  perceive  of  his  features 
and  what  I  heard  of  his  voice  to  the  Grey  Eobe! 
The  familiar  of  the  Minister!   whew!" 

He  spluttered  the  mud  out  of  his  mouth  and 
muttered : 

"Yes;  he  allowed — nay,  approved,  furthered 
the  duel!  and  the  springald  was  some  fencing- 
master's  pupil  set  on  to  give  me  a  lesson!  and 
only  playing  the  rustic  hobbledehoy!  If  I  get 
out  of  this  nasty  pickle,  I  am  well  off!" 

But  fate  was  still  no  friend.  The  mass  of 
starers,  lining  the  parapet  over  which  he  was 
made  to  fly,  stood  five  deep. 

"There  he  is!   playing  the  frog!" 

A  roar  of  laughter  hailed  this  quip,  for  in  the 
language  of  the  vulgar,  "to  play  the  frog"  was 
to  drink  to  excess,  which  causes  a  man  to  jerk 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  109 

his  limbs  like  the  batrachian,  as  well  retaining 
its  usual  meaning — very  applicable  to  this 
blunderer  on  this  terra  infirma. 

At  almost  the  next  instant,  a  cry,  not  humor- 
ous, rose: 

"The  Watch!  the  Watch  comes  to  arrest  the 
duellists!" 

It  was  the  truth.  Assured  that  his  protege 
was  safe  and  the  victor,  as  far  as  the  bully  and 
the  matamore  were  concerned,  the  Capuchin 
had  drawn  his  gown  round  him,  shaken  his 
cowl  down  over  his  brow,  and  glided  away  in 
the  throng. 

The  abbe,  reflecting  on  the  consequences  of 
his  intervention,  rapidly  approached  Didier, 
beside  the  high-minded  iron-dealer,  and  whis- 
pered: 

"Young  man,  the  archers  of  the  City  Guard 
are  coming.  After  all  is  said  and  done,  there 
exist  edicts  against  fighting  with  weapons  in 
the  precincts  of  the  Cathedral  and  the  Markets, 
which  have  their  privileges,  heaven  be  praised! 
Make  away  with  you!  By  the  way,  the  Abbe 
de  Gondi  of  Notre  Dame  will  not  be  sorry  to 
see  you  once  more!  One  of  your  parries  was 
very  pretty!" 

"An  old  gentleman  of  Blois  who  taught  me 
the  small  arms,  was  a  pupil  of  the  Florentine 
Morazzo." 

"I  compliment  him  on  his  art!  Remember, 
the  abbe  is  your  friend,  since  he  fought  for  you 
— and  in  these  times  it  is  good  to  have  friends 
in  any  camp!  A  priest  may  be  of  assistance  to 
a  gentleman!" 

"Particularly  when  he  handles  a  sword  so 
handsomely !" 

"Thanks!   But,  away!  the  soldiers  come!" 

Didier  was  left  alone  by  his  disappearance. 


110  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

The  multitude  were  regarding  Malargue, 
deviously  staggering  in  the  treacherous  fluid 
toward  shore. 

At  this  juncture,  the  head  of  a  squad  of 
City  Archers  appeared  from  the  corner  of  St. 
Eustache's. 

"You  are  lost,"  said  the  hardware  merchant, 
frightened.  "Here  is  a  fit  sheath  for  your 
sword.  For  heaven's  sake,  shut  it  up!  It  will 
betray  you  as  one  of  the  duellists  if  kept  naked! 
Take,  sheathe,  and  flee  into  the  Students' 
Ward!" 

But  while  Didier  still  wavered,  he  saw  the 
Watch  stop.  It  seemed  to  him  that  the  monk 
in  grey  barred  their  path  and  conferred  with 
their  sergeant.  At  all  events,  they  faced  part- 
ly round  and  headed  to  descend  the  long  in- 
cline by  which  the  waterside  was  reached. 

A  cry  from  the  crowd  informed  Malargue  of 
their  new  direction,  if  he  could  not  guess. 

''The  Watch!  Coming  to  take  you!  Fool, 
do  not  try  to  get  on  the  shore!  Leave  the 
strand,  idiot,  and  let  them  lift  you  out  into 
that  boat!" 

The  Watch  marched  down  upon  the  strand, 
but,  on  arriving,  saw  a  skiff  crossing  the  river, 
with  a  dripping  body  across  the  thwarts. 

"He  is  one  of  them — and  drowned,"  said 
the  sergeant,  rubbing  his  nose,  amid  the  jeers 
of  the  spectators  over  his  head.  "He  has  es- 
caped!" 

"What  of  it !  All  the  less  for  the  cage !"  said 
a  philosophical  archer. 

"Imbecile!  Do  you  not  know  who  the  monk 
was  that  bade  me  neglect  all  else  but  arrest 
the  reviler  of  the  great  Cardinal-Minister! 
That  tavern-haunter  Malargue,  so-called  An- 
spessade  of  the  Uri  Legion?" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  Ill 

"All  monks  are  alike!" 

"But  he  was  a  Capuchin!" 

"Pray,  in  what  does  a  Capuchin  take  prece- 
dence of  other  friars?" 

"In  the  first  place,  comrade,  learn  that  he 
is  not  a  friar." 

"But  I  have  always  heard  of  friars  in  orders 
grey?" 

"The  grey  friars  are  the  Franciscans — the 
servants  of  Saint  Francis.  Now  this  one  is  a 
Capuchin,  the  follower  of  Saint — Saint  Cap- 
iiche!"  explained  the  sergeant,  inventing  a  new- 
occupant  for  a  niche  in  the  Romish  Walhalla, 
in  his  quandary. 

"Oh,  so  this  is  the  Monk  Joseph?" 

'it  is  a  monk,  comrade,  who  takes  prece- 
dence of  all  the  religious  men,  monks, 
friars,  priests,  throughout  France,  and  I  have 
seen  him  bowed  to,  in  Avignon,  two  summers 
ago,  as  if  he  took  precedence  in  all  Christen- 
dom as  well!" 

The  archer  gaped  at  his  superior  whose  gar- 
rulity had  never  taken  this  turn  into  eccles- 
iastical fields  before.  At  all  events  he  was  en- 
lightened by  the  speech,  as  Malargue  had  been 
by  his  own  intuition:  "His  Grey  Eminence," 
was  Father  Joseph  Le-Clerc  du  Tremblay. 

He  whom  we  have  seen  secretary  to  Bishop 
Alphonse,  and  secretly  steward  to  the  Riche- 
lieu domain,  had  become  the  intimate  agent 
of  the  Prime  Minister  of  France,  the  Cardinal- 
Duke  of  Richelieu,  for  the  petty  bourg  had 
been  elevated  into  the  dais  for  a  peer.  Only 
among  the  people  was  he  a  plain  Capuchin 
friar;  the  court  acknowledged  that  he  bore 
hicrh  ecclesiastical  rank;  but  if  he  were  a 
bishop,  where  was  his  see?  If  higher  si  ill, 
what  place  was  open  Cop  him  wbea  the  hie 


112  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

est  church  prelates  assembled?  A  few,  who 
were  not  reckoned  short-sighted,  went  farther; 
thev  said  that  the  Grev  Robe  hid  a  greater 
man  in  the  eyes  of  Rome  than  the  Red  one: 
that  Joseph  was  the  prompter  and  Armand 
the  puppet!  That  the  time  would  come  when 
the  robes  would  be  thrown  off,  and  all  would 
behold  Richelieu  displaced  and  Tremblay  en- 
throned. 

Meanwhile,  the  prudent  and  the  jocular  alike 
hailed  Joseph  as  "his  Grey  Eminence!" 

The  archer  was  convinced;  he  muttered: 

"The  explanation  is  fine!  But  we  must 
march  back  to  the  watch-house  without  a  pris- 
oner all  the  same!" 

Didier,  relieved  from  immediate  alarm,  lin- 
gered by  the  shrine,  with  a  perpetual  lamp,  at 
the  corner,  listening  to  the  chat  of  the  spec- 
tators who  sauntered  home  with  the  news. 

"Malargue  had  escaped  by  a  boat  which 
picked  him  up  in  the  teeth  of  the  Watch,  who 
returned  to  their  quarters,  silly  with  vexation. 
The  abbe  has  gone  to  Notre  Dame,  where  would 
be  sanctuary  if  he  had  spitted  on  his  rapier 
ten  play-actors!  The  Matamore  is  wounded 
and  has  been  taken  to  the  Grand  Hospital! 
Palsanguienc!"  roared  the  citizen,  excited  by 
this  budget  for  retailing  to  his  wife,  as  he 
passed  Didier  and  winked  at  him,  as  an  ac- 
quaintance, "to  think  of  an  actor  dying  in  the 
very  House  of  Heaven!" 

For  so  hospitals  were  styled  in  that  day. 

This  worthy  burgher  gone,  the  young  gentle- 
man from  Blois  felt  wholly  lonelv.  The  crowd 
which  had  witnessed  his  prowess  was  com- 
pletely broken  up  and  passed,  like  the  bubbles 
on  the  muddy  Seine,  excited  by  Malargue's  in- 
voluntary plunge. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  113 

"Such  is  fame!  Fleeting  as  the  bloom  on  a 
maiden's  cheek!" 

"Impudent  fellow!"  said  a  voice  pertly  at  his 
elbow.     "You  let  my  check  alone!" 

He  looked  out  of  his  reverie. 

A  girl  of  seventeen  or  eighteen,  pretty  in  the 
Paris  popular  fashion,  that  is  to  say,  saucy, 
piquant,  and  with  diminutive  features,  like  an 
old  woman  rejuvenated,  was  at  his  side. 

She  had  emerged  from  a  wine-shop  of  the 
Dauphine  Place,  but  she  had  not  been  drink- 
ing.    Her  lips  wrere  fresh  with  the  natural  dew. 

Her  costume  was  a  patchwork  of  colors,  not 
unlike  Malargue's  in  variety,  as  though  she 
had  retained  a  keepsake  of  wearing  apparel , 
from  each  of  many  mistresses  in  whose  service 
she  had  not  long  stayed.  White  cap;  primrose 
cross-over  neckerchief;  cherry-red  petticoat  and 
a  darker  red  one  beneath,  with  rose  stockings 
and  neat  russet  shoes,  this  was  her  attire.  She 
might  be  the  Singing  Chambermaid  of  the  illus- 
trious Mondori's  Theatre,  of  which  the  band 
was  heard  playing  a  popular  air  near  by. 

"I  ask  your  pardon,"  said  he,  bowing  as  it 
were  to  a  duchess.  "I  was  speaking  to  myself. 
I  was  not  seeing  you,  or  anybody." 

"Have  you  been  here  long,  without  seeing 
anybody?" 

A  visitor  from  the  provinces  might  natur- 
ally be  pardoned  for  surprise  at  this  frankness 
on  the  briefest  acquaintance.  Didier  did  not 
reason  on  this  head,  so  winning  was  the  little 
woman,  and  thinking  that  an  allusion  to  his 
duel  was  in  the  speech,  he  answered  lightly: 

"I  have  been  on  this  spot  upwards  of  an 
hour,  and  I  was  well  placed,  I  assure  you,  to 
see  everything !" 

"Then  tell  me  if  vou  saw  in  the  crowd — 


114     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

sure,  also,  to  have  a  front  place — a  sub-officer 
of  the  Swiss  Mercenaries,  anspessade,  they 
call  his  rank,  by  the  way — his  name  is  Ma- 
largue — some  call  him  Captain!  He  was  in  a 
brilliant  uniform,  more  showy  than  the  Guards' 
at  the  King's  own  door!  Yellow  as  gold,  red 
as  blood — ■" 

"Hem!"  coughed  Didier. 

Indeed,  he  had  seen  "this  Malagrue!" 

The  girl  laughed  at  the  mispronunciation. 

"Malargue!  It  is  well  for  you  that  he  did 
not  hear  you  misconstrue  it!" 

"I  have  no  fear  of  his  overhearing  me,  or 
seeing  me  chatting  with  his — his  sister  or 
sweetheart?" 

"I  am  Louisette,  at  your  orders,  my  gentle- 
man— and  while  M.  Malargue  is  something  of 
my  courtier,  you  understand,  he  is  the  em- 
ploye of  my  mistress." 

"Well,  return  to  your  mistress  and  suggest 
that  she  send  to  the  tailor's  for  a  change  of 
clothes  for  her  employe!  Unless,"  he  added, 
with  mock  gravity,  "he  onlv  needs  a  wooden 
suit." 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"That  'Captain'  Malargue  fell  over  the 
bridge!" 

"Fell  over  the  bridge — into  the  river!  For 
love  of  me?  I  confess  we  had  tart  words,  but 
not  to  justify  his  leaping  the  Pont  Neuf." 

"Well,  he  did  not  fall  of  his  own  will.  And 
as  to  the  river,  he  fell  into  its  mud!" 

"His  uniform  is  spoilt,  then?" 

"The  gloss  is  perhaps  a  little  off!" 

"And  he  so  detested  water!" 

"He  was  disputing  with — with  a  citizen, 
about — what  was  it  about?  Oh,  I  remember 
now:     About  the  color  of  the  Cardinal's  beard, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  115 

when  his  foot  slipped,  that  deuce  of  a  rail 
gave  way — how  do  1  know?  In  short,  he  was 
over  the  bridge,  as  though  shot  out  of  a  mor- 
tar, in  a  twinkling!" 

"Well,  he  would  not  have  been  fishing  and 
pulled  in  by  a  gudgeon — he  is  more  in  the  habit 
of  pulling  gudgeons  out!" 

Didier  laughed  with  her.  This  was  a  reve- 
lation. A  girl  of  wit  who  did  not  break  her 
heart  over  a  lost — perhaps  drowned,  gallant, 
but  joined  in  the  laugh  at  him.  Besides,  she 
evidently  gauged  her  boastful  devotee  cor- 
rectly. But  it  would  be  difficult  to  recount  the 
matter  without  seeming  to  court  praise  for 
himself  and  he  shrank  from  the  bare  suppo- 
sition. 

"Do  vou  not  believe  he  is  drowned?" 

"Not"  he!" 

"Strange  unconcern,  in  a  fond  little  heart 
like  this!" 

"But  he  was  born  to  be  hanged — " 

"I  thought  something  of  the  kind,  do  you 
know?" 

"Know,  Master — " 

'•My  name  is  Didier — " 

"Know  then,  fair  Master  Didier,  that  my  mis- 
tress prophesies  that  he  will  meet  a  violent 
death — not  drowning — " 

"By  the  rope!" 

"She  says  that  a  rope  will  have  a  hand  in 
it!" 

"Ah!  I  believe  your  mistress  is  a  truthful 
prophetess!" 

"To  be  sure,  since  it  is  the  celebrated  Flo- 
retia !" 

It  was  remarkable  with  what  pride  the  girl 
spoke  of  the  celebrity.  No  man  may  be  a 
hero  to  his  valet,  but  the  chambermaid  of  a 


116     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Parisian    celebrity    swears    by    her    mistress 
through  thick  and  thin. 

Didier  shook  his  head. 

"Then,  you  are  infallibly  from  the  country?" 

"I  did  not  say  the  contrary!" 

"But  everything,  after  all,  about  you,  does 
say  so!  Your  hat,  doublet,  the  way  you  sling 
that  old-fashioned  long  sword,  your  boots! 
they  have  spurs,  but,  on  my  salvation !  you  have 
walked  into  town  by  the  barriers!" 

"As  for  the  sword,  it  is  a  recent  acquisition, 
to  replace  one  I  was  robbed  of  at  an  inn.  I 
plead  guilty  to  the  rusticity  of  my  apparel. 
You  need  not  be  a  witch,  like  your  celebrated 
mistress,  to  divine  I  have  the  scent  of  the  sweet 
hay  and  the  bee-plant  and  not  of  the  civet  cat, 
like  your  city  gallants,  Ma'm'selle  Louisette! 
And  your  mistress  is — " 

"A  fortune-teller,  a  soothsayer,  in  the  full 
acceptation  of  the  name!  The  idol  of  the 
mystery-loving  cit.'s,  the  intrigue-loving  cour- 
tiers, of  all  who  wish  to  know  on  whom  some- 
one will  smile  tojmorrow:  the  King,  Cardinal, 
Ministers,  the  sun  itself — for  everybody  who 
goes  to  bed  does  not  wake  in  the  morning!" 

"I  daresay  we  are  all  mortal !"  said  the  young 
man  with  the  recklessness  of  his  age. 

"All  except  my  mistress,  who  talks  to  every- 
body as  if  she  were  born  in  the  year  One!" 

"My  life  on  it,  I  should  like  my  fortune  told 
— or,  even,  my  past  enlightened!" 

"Young  sir,  you  shall  have  an  audience,  or 
never  trust  in  my  management.  And  believe 
me  it  is  no  slight  favor,  for  I  have  been  of- 
fered ten  gold  pieces  by  a  patron  for  me  to 
cheat  another  out  of  his  turn!" 
"I  do  not  know  that  my  fortune  is  worth 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  117 

crossing  the  palm  with  gold/'  said  the  other, 
dubiously. 

"Oh,  it  shall  cost  you  nothing — but  doing  me 
a  little  kindness!" 

"Who  would  not  be  kind  to  you,  Louisette!" 

"Malargue,  if  he  were  to  come  here  at  this 
moment !" 

"Don't  look  timorously  for  him!  He  will  not 
appear!     What  should  he  appear  for?" 

'To  do  his  task." 

"So  you  said  before!  Am  I  to  take  his  duty 
on  me?" 

"You  are  bright!  Yes!  Listen — all  trades 
have  their  secrets!  In  order  to  terrify  the  un- 
believers who  mock  at  our  pare — pare — you 
are  learned — you  might  help  me  out!  Mock 
at  our  pare — " 

"Paregoric — pare — oh,  do  you  mean  para- 
phernalia?" 

"Exactly;  for  the  reception  room  is  fitted  up 
without  a  thought  of  expense — real  crocodile 
from  Egypt,  costly  drugs  that  burn  in  censers 
with  curious  flames,  making  one  ruddy  as  a 
poppv  and  then  ghastlv  green  as  a  corpse! 
Ugh!" 

"I  think  I  understand !  Sometimes  your  or- 
dinary paraphernalia — " 

"Extraordinary,  please !" 

"That  was  the  difficulty  with  your  predeces- 
sor the  Pythoness  of  Apollo,  who  used  to  have 
smoke  surround  her,  and  colored  fire!  So  my 
tutor  informed  me,  on  good  authority,  I  doubt 
not,  that  she  engaged  a  burly  peasant  to  carry 
a  redhot  trident — that  is,  a  large  fork,  built 
after  the  pattern  of  that  with  which  this  knave, 
frying  sausages,  hooks  them  out  for  his  cus- 
tomers. He  carried  it  to  good  purpose,  to- 
wit;  pitching  out  of  doors  those  who  would 


118     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

not  be  persuaded  of  the  supernatural  power 
underlying  her  acts  and  sayings." 

The  girl  lost  most  of  this  speech,  as  she  was 
studying  the  double  stream  of  passers,  a  little 
proud  of  being  seen  conversing  with  a  hand- 
some young  cavalier,  and  a  little  fearful  lest 
the  redoubtable  Captain  Malargue  burst  upon 
her  view. 

"So  you  seek  one  who  will  personate  Pluto 
and  prod  the  disbeliever?"  concluded  Didier, 
merrily. 

"Do  you  say  our  device  is  old?" 

"Ancient  as  the  water  that  runs  and  the 
grass  that  grows!" 

"Time  hallows  all  things,"  she  caught  it  up 
smartly;  "so  that  you  will  make  no  difficulty 
about  obliging  me,  spite  of  your  air  of  nicety, 
and  language  to  boot!" 

"Two  thousand  years  has  hallowed  the  trick 
— I  may  play  the  daemon,  without  doubt;  at 
least  with  no  more  compunction  than  abbes 
show  who  take  up  the  sword,"  said  the  youth 
from  Blois,  recalling  his  clerical  second  from 
three  of  his  fraternity  passing,  with  sidelong 
glances — which,  however,  comprised  Mademoi- 
selle Louisette. 

"How  good  of  you!"  and  she  smiled  sweetly. 
"It  is  understood,  then?  If  any  gentleman — 
who  proves  no  gentleman!  refuses  to  pay  for 
talisman,  horoscope,  charm,  fortune,  advice  in 
love  or  court  affairs,  et  cetera — we  call  on 
you — " 

"Be  the  name  Belial,  Abdiel — " 

"We  say,  Beelzebub!" 

"You  don't  stand  upon  trifles!  That  is  the 
chief  of  the  band,  otherwise,  Satan!" 

"We  cab  and  yon  come!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  119 

"After  a  long  and  laborious,  horrifying  in- 
cantation?" 

"On  the  contrary,  at  once!     Because — " 

"The  ladies  ought  to  be  obliged?" 

"Because  .Mistress  has  a  louis  in  readiness 
at  each  apparition!" 

"You  may  flatter  yourself:  it  is  not  every 
house  in  Paris  that  has  a  familiar  spirit  on 
hire:" 

Louisette  looked  toward  the  bridge. 

"See  how  they  hang  over  the  rail!  Perhaps 
they  have  fished  up  the  true  demon!" 

"Don't  tremble!  It  is  a  fisher,  indeed,  but 
he  has  caught — an  old  shoe!  But  let  us  leave 
for  fear  that  his  next  cast  may  be  more  profit- 
able! For  an  hour  I  am  vour  man,  prettv  Loui- 
sette!" 

"Ah,  you  will  have  the  thanks  of  my  mis- 
tress, with  the  gold!" 

"The  dear  old  lady!" 

"What!     Old!" 

"Certainly  old,  yellow  and  wrinkled,  as  you 
are  young,  fair  and  smooth  as  a  peach!" 

Louisette  trotted  by  the  side  of  Didier,  guid- 
ing him  with  a  nudge  of  the  elbow  through 
the  lane  of  stalls  into  the  New  Street  of  the 
Lower  Fields.  The  show  of  goods  changed 
character,  from  miscellaneous,  becoming  of  the 
garden  stuff  variety.  It  was  an  efflux  from  the 
Main  Market. 

"All  witches  are  alike,  as  I  describe  them." 

"Well,  I  admit  that  in  truth  my  mistress  is 
aged,  but  not  so  to  the  general  eye!  Now,  you 
invite  confidence.  Master  Didier,  unlike  these 
bumptious  Parisians  who  pretend  that  they 
already  know  everything,  at  which  they  slur 
and  banter;  and  they  are  not  discreet  and  cir- 

cur  iq  T  \v"''  ■:" 


120  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"I  thank  you!" 

"My  mistress,"  proceeded  the  tiring-woman 
in  a  whisper  which  indicated  misgiving  and 
awe,  "covers  her  old,  yellow  and  wrinkled  fea- 
tures with  a  false  face — " 

"A  false  face?" 

"Oh,  but  it  is  a  splendid  face-similate — " 

"A  facsimile,  perhaps — " 

"As  you  please,  for,  I  thank  heaven!  I  make 
no  pretensions  to  learning!  This  false  face  is 
of  Modena  make,  silk  waxed,  moulded  and  col- 
ored delicately  so  that  it  would  puzzle  a  hawk- 
eyed  spy  of  the  Cardinal  to  say  it  was  a  mask." 

"If  you  do  not  meddle  with  learning,"  com- 
mented Didier,  "you  do  not  seem  to  refrain 
from  politics.  What  would  a  guileless  child 
like  our  Louisette  know  of  the  Cardinal's  spies, 
prithee?" 

"Where  is  there  not  a  spy?  Besides,  we 
have  calls  made  on  us,  but  with  the  best  of 
intentions,  look  you!  by  the  head  of  all  those 
spies — " 

"Their  head,  eh!  Oh,  his  Grey  Eminence?'' 
cried  Didier,  in  order  to  show  that  he  was  not 
uninformed  on  town  gossip. 

"His  grey  fiddlesticks,  young  sir!  What  is 
Father  Joseph,  dreaded  though  he  be,  to  his 
Eminence's  Deathsman — " 

"Lord!  Have  you  the  Executioner  of  Paris 
your  guest,  too!" 

"Not  the  actual  headsman,  understand  me! 
But  him  they  call  the  Cardinal's  Executioner, 
namely,  the  Chevalier  Laffemas — " 

"Indeed!"  said  the  young  countryman,  little 
enlightened.  "I  should  think  that  his  fortune 
were  made,  and  wanted  no  telling!" 

"He  comes,  master,  to  assure  the  mistress 
that  as  long  as  she  carries  on  her  profession 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  121 

in  so  lady-like  and  genteel  a  fashion,  she  need 
fear  nothing  from  the  police." 

"Very  kind  in  a  man  with  so  grim  an  office!" 

"He  is  very  kind!  in  words — deuce  of  a  livre 
does  he  ever  throw  away  on  me,  showing  him 
the  door,  though!" 

"I  suppose  ho  does  not  know  anything  about 
the  lady-like  and  genteel  manner  in  which  your 
demon  puts  out  the  recalcitrant!"  said  Didier 
merrily. 

"Of  course  not,  or  he  w7ould  not  recommend 
her  to  his  acquaintances  as  surpassing  in  lore 
and  insight  into  the  future  the  famous  Sylla- 
bus of  Como — " 

"The  Sybil  of  CurnaB,  I  suppose?  I  bow  to 
your  mythological  lore!  Go  on,  faster!  This 
opens  like  a  drama!" 

"It  will  end  like  a  tragedy,  malapert,  if  you 
atttmipt  to  make  love  to  her  instead  of  to  the 
maid!" 

"You  are  so  dangerous  when  jealous?" 

"Not  I!  But  she  is  courted  by  a  high  noble- 
man!" 

"Some  count?" 

"Pooh!" 

"Not  a  marquis?" 

"Pah!" 

"Stop!  A  Svbil!  Nothing  under  a  duke,  at 
least?" 

"Eh?" 

"Kings  keep  astrologers — why  not  a  duke 
court  a  pythoness?" 

"How  do  you  know  it  is  a  duke?" 

"Because  his  Grace  of  Sourdis,  for  example, 
stands  in  the  direst  need  of  a  soothsayer  in 
petticoats!  Only  such  a  one  can  tell  him  which 
of  many  gallants  will  run  away  with  his  daugh- 
ter before  he  puts  her  in  the  convent!" 


122  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"You  are  not  a  rustic!"  exclaimed  Louisette, 
stepping  aside,  "to  know  these  things!" 

"Ha,  ha!"  laughed  Didier,  forced  out  of  a 
habitual  melancholy  by  his  gay  companion;  "I 
heard  something  of  the  sort  on  the  road:  two 
workmen  at  an  inn  spoke  of  having  fitted  up 
a  room  rather  than  a  cell  at  Our  Lady  of  Di- 
vine Succor,  and,  being  pressed  by  a  scurrilous 
enemy  of  the  Church,  they  explained  that  it 
was  not  a  nest  of  luxury  for  an  abbess,  but  an 
apartment  for  a  noble  boarder.  Then,  some 
one  said  that  the  Duke  of  Sourdis'  groom  had 
latelv  ridden  often  on  the  highwav  between 
nunnery  and  town,  and  I  put  the  facts  to- 
gether!" 

"You  can  set  up  for  a  wizard,  after  a  few 
lessons  in  our  house!     But,  hurry!" 

"No,  let  me  hear  the  bells!" 

"It  is  St.  Germain's,  and  Roch,  and  the  whole 
Jcyriel — drat  them!  It  is  two  o'clock  and  my 
mistress  will  be  devoured  with  impatience! 
Her  throng  of  admirers  and  consulting  clients 
will  be  at  our  doors  now!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  122. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FACE   TO  FACE. 

The  maid  and  the  enlisted  youth  turned  into 
a  court  which  was  not  a  thoroughfare  ordinar- 
ily for  the  all-sufficient  reason  that  it  was  with- 
out an  outlet.  This  "Blind-alley  of  the  White- 
chapel,"  Blanchapelle,  was  finally  blotted  out 
by  its  old  houses  collapsing,  in  the  period  of 
Mercier,  who  described  the  house  we  are  to 
enter,  before  its  last  stage  of  decrepitude. 

After  the  narrow  gorge,  it  suddenly  widened 
so  that  carriages,  once  within,  could  turn  and 
extricate  themselves,  but  with  difficulty. 

It  was  crowded  with  vehicles  of  all  kinds, 
no  more  or  less  than  gathered  beneath  the  win- 
dows of  the  dining-room  at  Versailles  when  his 
Majesty  was  doing  the  court  the  honor  to  let 
them  see  the  King  eat.  This  was  rare,  for 
Louis  XIII.  w7as  eccentric:  as  his  Jester  Lange- 
ly  said: 

"My  royal  master  does  nothing  like  common 
people!  He  likes  to  eat  alone  and  have  a 
throng  round  when  he  plays  solitaire!" 

"Where  there  was  an  interstice  between  large 
wheels  with  projecting  hubs,  litters  and  chairs 
were  lodged,  and  in  the  chinks  these  grudg- 
ingly presented,  ladies  and  their  serving-men 
and  maids  were  wedged,  fainting,  gasping, 
screaming  as  the  horses  plucked  at  their  head- 
dresses, vociferating,  and  moaning.  All  were 
trying  to  insinuate  their  bodies  nearer  a  door- 
way under  a  curiously  carved  oaken  porch. 

It  was,  hereditarily,  the  abode  of  a  necro* 


124  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

mancer,  for  here  dwelt  Flamel  before  he  had 
quarters  in  Notre  Dame  outbuildings,  and  Flo- 
retia  may  have  found  his  Inextinguishable 
Fire  still  aglow  in  the  furnace  where  he  made 
potable  gold. 

"Never  mind  the  mob!"  said  Louisette,  to 
whom  the  tumult  was  a  dailv  sight.  "I  will 
get  you  in  by  another  entrance,  for  we  took 
the  adjoining  house,  or  at  least  the  part  not 
used  by  a  Turkey  merchant,  so  as  to  have  a 
private  way  in." 

"But  these  are  great  folk!"  said  Didier,  as- 
tounded at  the  dames  of  quality  elbowed  and 
elbowing  women  of  lesser  degree  for  prece- 
dence. 

"To  be  sure!"  said  the  maid  proudly.  "That 
dark  gentleman  is  the  Duke  of  Guiche,  show- 
ing the  ribbon  and  order  of  the  Fleece,  which 
he  was  promised  by  my  mistress!  He  comes 
to  thank  her  for  the  verification  of  her  proph- 
ecy! That  is  the  Chancellor  D'Aligre — Presi- 
dent of  the  Council,  I  warrant — for  Madame 
said  that  he  would  rise!  But  look  at  the  young 
men —  All  tbeir  chins  smooth  as  the  back 
of  my  hand!  Hist!  What  do  they  say?  The 
King  has  set  the  example — to  remove  the  chin- 
tuft,  so  as  to  distinguish  the  Royalists  from 
the  Cardinalists!  Young  sir,  you  are  out  of 
the  court  fashion!  Bvt  come,  come!  The 
doors  are  opened!" 

She  drew  him,  abashed  at  such  a  brilliant 
gathering  in  this  sordid  court,  into  a  doorway 
next  that  where  the  head  of  the  glistening  and 
variegated  hydra  hurried  in. 

To  play  the  demon,  and  throw  noblemen  out 
of  doors!  He  well  might  retract  his  pledge  to 
assist  the  distressed  abigail. 

"Oh,  they  are  nearly  all  ladies,"  said  Loui- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  125 

sette,  perceiving  his  awe.  "You  will  not  have 
to  frighten,  but  to  charm!" 

"Eh?" 

She  closed  the  door  on  them,  and  thev  stood 
in  a  passage,  dimly  lighted  by  what  rays  could 
pierce  a  cobwebbed  blown-glass  pane  over  the 
door. 

"Men  want  to  ask  question  of  Old  Harry! 
Women,  only  to  see  something  agreeable!  So 
we  shall  have  recourse  this  time  to  our  Well 
of  Truth." 

"What,  have  you  all  the  concomitants  of 
fable?     The  Well  of  Truth— no  less?" 

"My  mistress  invented  the  name!  It  appears 
that  Truth  lives  in  a  well,  without  getting  di- 
luted! I  should  never  have  thought  that 
However,  our  well  is  a  long  tube,  at  one  end 
of  which  the  patron  peeps  in,  and  at  the  oth- 
er—" 

"Her  adorer!  Nothing  more  simple!  But 
how  do  you  always  get  the  chosen  one  to  be 
on  hand  thus  to  meet  his  idol  face  to  face?" 

"Silly  fellow!  If  it  happen  so,  well  and 
good!  If  not,  not!  And  my  demon  becomes 
an  angel  for  the  nonce!  My  mistress  knows 
all  the  tittle-tattle  and  it  goes  hard  but,  with 
a  little  stock  of  wigs,  mustaches,  'royals'  or 
chin-beards,  my  demon  does  not  pass  during 
an  instant  for  the  beloved  one!" 

"This  is  all  innocent  enough."  said  Didier, 
breathing  more  freely.     "And  amusing!" 

In  the  hall  they  heard  the  church  bells  chim- 
ing the  quarter. 

A  hole  had  been  made  in  the  two  walls  and 
they  passed  into  Signora  Floret ia's  residence1. 
They  were  on  the  basement  floor,  presumably 
beneath  that  of  the  fashionable  witch's  recep- 
tion-rooms. 


126  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

The  two  could  hear  the  thunder  of  feet 
tramping  up  the  stairway,  the  ladies  wearing 
pattens,  since  the  court  was  so  muddy  from 
the  unexampled  number  of  callers. 

Didier  was  in  a  room  from  which  the  furni- 
ture had  been  removed,  if  once  it  had  been  in- 
habited. An  odor  of  foreign  spices,  camphor 
and  musk  used  to  preserve  silk  and  furs,  sup- 
ported Louisette's  story  of  the  Turkey  mer- 
chant. On  a  table  was  laid  out  an  assortment 
of  specimens  of  the  hairdresser's  art,  looking 
like  an  actor's  dressing-table.  A  lamp,  which 
Louisette  lit,  illuminated  this  table  and  a  small 
cheval-glass  with  elaborate  Florentine  gesso- 
work,  but  a  shade  cast  the  rays  away  from  a 
pipe  which  came  down  into  the  room  and  ter- 
minated six  feet  from  the  floor.  Its  upper 
end  pierced  the  ceiling. 

"The  truthful  well,"  explained  the  maid. 
"All  you  have  to  do,  dear,  obliging  Master 
Didier,  is  to  listen.  If  you  hear  the  phrase: 
'Look  into  the  Well  and  vou  will  behold  vour 
intended  mate!'  why,  thrust  your  face  into  that 
funnel!  Smile — yes,  you  may  smile!  It  be- 
comes you,  for  you  are  given  to  glum  looks,  if 
let  alone!  But  make  no  other  grimace,  mind! 
Take  care  not  to  sneeze!  We  lost  a  clever 
demon  by  his  letting  himself  be  overcome  by 
an  inhalation  of  Thieves'  Vinegar  with  which 
the  Dowager  Duchess  of  Montresor  inundates 
herself;  and  of  which  some  drops  fell  into  the 
well  on  her  poking  her  head  in  the  tube!  We 
should  have  been  ruined,  that  time,  but  for 
the  old  lady  saying  'Bless  you!'  which  my  mis- 
tress declared  offended  the  demon,  put  out  the 
lights  and  caused  her  power  to  be  useless  for 
the  rest  of  the  day!" 

"My  pretty  Louisettel    Depend  on  tot  chok-< 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  127 

Ing  sooner  than  committing  myself  as  an  im- 
polite demon!     A  kiss,  and  adieu:" 

Louisette  extricated  herself  from  bis  hands 
with  not  overmuch  fleetness  and  disappeared 
up  steps  at  a  corner. 

Didier  laughed  to  himself. 

"Paris  for  adventures!''  muttered  he,  sitting 
on  the  table,  for  he  had  been  a  long  while  on 
his  legs  since  breakfast  and  fought  a  duel  on 
them,  besides.  "I  have  not  been  thirty  hours 
here  before  I  am  surrounded  by  the  grandees 
of  court  and  city!  That  is  a  pretty  damsel 
and  she  goes  straight  to  the  point  in  her  en- 
gagement of  her  mistress's  peculiar  servitors! 
A  demon!  save  the  mark!  What  would  my 
tutor  say — who  was  a  disfrocked  priest,  I  be- 
lieve! But,  if  I  am  to  be  imprisoned  here  for 
an  hour,  let  me  see  what  provisions  are  made 
for  the  captivity.  The  red  nose  of  Signor  Ma- 
lagrue — beg  pardon  Malargue — warrants  my 
foresight — that  he  never  endured  an  hour  with- 
out recreation.  My  own  nose  misleads  me  if 
I  have  not  proceeded  straight  to  the  larder  of 
the  Satanic  haunt!" 

Indeed,  in  a  niche  under  the  stairs,  a  hutch 
had  merely  to  have  its  slide  drawn  to  reveal 
a  respectable  pasty,  a  rounded  earthen-ware 
vessel  of  red  wine  and  a  loaf  of  bread,  with 
a  hole  in  the  center  to  be  hung  on  the  arm 
of  the  eater,  so  that  it  should  be  in  reach  dur- 
ing the  repast. 

"I  flurried  the  girl  by  taking  the  kiss,"  said 
Didier,  unceremoniously  pushing  the  wigs  in 
a  heap  at  one  end  of  the  table  under  the  lamp 
and  placing  the  comestibles  in  their  stead. 
"Otherwise,  she  could  not  have  failed  to  tell 
me  of  this  solid  consolation  for  her  absence." 

The  situation  was  romantic;  the  events  of 


128     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  day  had  been  exciting,  but  Didier  was  at  an 
age  when  appetite  could  not  be  stilled  by  a 
page  of  the  "Astree,"  that  fashionable  romance 
of  the  day;  he  began  to  eat  with  a  relish  which 
converted  the  basement  into  a  cave  of  canni- 
bals. 

Suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  a  draught  of  toler- 
able wine,  he  stopped  and  nearly  choked. 

He  heard  voices  above,  coming  down  the  pipe 
as  if  from  a  sounding-board. 

''Oho!1'  said  he,  "this  is  pre-arranged — it  is 
necessary  that  the  demon  should  hear  all  thai 
the  patrons  say  so  as  to  paint  his  face  accord- 
ing to  the  humor  of  the  peerer  into  the  Well." 

Two  voices  were  in  dialogue.  Feminine; 
one  cracked  and  whining,  like  a  very  old  wo- 
man's, the  other — words  fail  to  describe  the 
music  with  which  its  well-enunciated  syllables 
fell  on  Didier's  ear,  nay,  on  his  soul! 

"It  is  a  seraph!"  he  murmured. 

The  aged  voice  said,  with  simulated  irrita- 
tion: 

"Madame,  you  are  trying  to  deceive  me,  the 
sorceress,  to  whom  nothing  occult  is  secret — 
from  whom  nothing  can  be  hid!  You  are  not 
a  fine  lady,  not  even  a  bourgeoise!  You  are 
not  a  woman  of  twenty,  spite  of  your  air  which 
bears  up  that  assertion,  but  you  were  born  in 
1601,  at  Chalons — which  sufficiently  disproves 
your  attempt  to  pass  as  an  Englishwoman. 
Your  father  was  not  noble,  Dot  even  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Black  Robe!  But  just  a  county- 
court  official,  a  sort  of  usher  who  used  to  serve 
the  citations  of  his  superiors  in  riding  about 
the  country.  I  will  say  this  for  him:  he  had 
a  gentle  spirit,  and,  often,  instead  of  carrying 
out  his  orders  rigorously,  misread  them.  More- 
over, he  would  open  his  purse  to  the  peasants 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  129 

oppressed  by  the  law!  He  was  a  good  soul, 
and,  Marie!  you  have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed 
of  hiui!  Now,  if  I  have  convinced  you  that  I 
do  not  deceive  and  that  I  can  pierce  the  mask 
of  deceit,  what  do  you  want  of  me?" 

"I  want  to  know  if  I  am  ever  to  be  happy?" 

"She  is  unhappy,  this  angel,"  thought  Didier. 
"Like  me!" 

"Happy?  All  you  seek,  now,  is  happiness, 
eh?  Well,  you  were  born  under  Venus  and — 
and — Minerva — " 

"This  magician  makes  no  bones  of  it!" 
thought  the  listener.  "Since  when  was  Miner- 
va one  of  the  planets?" 

"You  can  be  happy,  yes." 

"Lucky  woman!"  thought  Didier,  interested 
so  that  he  pushed  away  the  flagon. 

"But  you  must — " 

He  strained  all  his  faculties,  but  the  long 
speech  and  any  remarks  in  reply  were  inaudi- 
ble; the  two  had  evidently  moved  out  of  the 
focus  of  the  Well-mouth. 

"Heavens!  Is  she  going  away?  And  am  I 
never  to  know  who  it  is,  beyond  the  trite  name 
'Marie?' "  moaned  Didier. 

But  at  the  next  instant,  he  heard  the  witch 
anew: 

"It  is  the  only  way  to  happiness!" 

"Then,  with  whom  am  I  to  be  happy?" 

Didier  held  his  breath  at  this  momentous 
question.  Stranger  though  he  was  to  the 
questioner,  she  could  hardly  be  more  inter- 
ested, if  one  might  judge  by  the  whiteness  of 
his  lips  and  the  intensity  of  the  strain  while 
awaiting. 

The  fortune-teller  of  the  Cul-de-sac  Blancha- 
pelle  paused,  as  her  tribe  will  do,  to  give  more 
effect  to  her  reply. 


130  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Ask  Truth  and  you  will  be  informed." 

"How  can  I  appeal  to  Truth?" 

The  woman  was  impatient. 

"This  is  the  Well  of  Truth!"  A  wooden  rod, 
probably  the  soothsayer's  inevitable  wand, 
rapped  on  the  summit  of  the  tube  at  the  other 
end  of  which  fretted  Didier,  and  the  voice  con- 
tinued: "Look  in;  and,  if  the  Fates  are  pro- 
pitious, you  will  see  the  lifelike  presentment 
of  him  with  whom  you  are  destined  to  mate 
and  lead  a  felicitous  life!" 

"Oh,  the  likeness!"  with  disappointment. 

"The  simulacrum!      I  can  do  no  more!" 

Didier  hung  back,  his  modesty  drawing  him. 
No  doubt  the  dupe  was  peering  in,  for  he  heard 
a  sigh  of  vexation. 

"Nothing!"  sighed  she. 

"Look!"  repeated  the  witch,  imperiously. 

Didier  seemed  a  statue,  against  his  will,  for 
curiosity,  if  no  worthier  sentiment,  moved  him 
to  advance  his  head  into  the  orifice.  He  tried 
to  stir,  but  in  vain.  He  was  a  Tantalus, 
blinded! 

"I  tell  you,  there  is  nothing  but  a  blank!" 
repeated  the  woman  whom  the  predictress  had 
said,  was  christened  "Marie." 

"Look!"  repeated  the  other,  with  assurance. 

At  the  same  moment,  a  brazen  bullet,  let 
down  on  a  fine  silver  wire  through  a  minute 
aperture  in  the  ceiling,  swung  with  great  dex- 
terity against  the  half-filled  lamp  globe  and  a 
sound,  muffled,  it  is  true,  but  like  a  gong, 
roused  Didier  from  his  unaccountable  stupor. 

He  understood  that  it  was  his  cue — that  the 
demon,  or  angel,  must  appear. 

His  dismay  vanished  as  rapidly  as  it  came. 
He  turned  his  attractive  head  of  the  adoles- 
cent, full  of  grace,  and  with  the  smile  which 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  131 

Louisette  had  counselled,  into  the  funnel  of 
the  pipe. 

He  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  most  beautiful 
countenance  as  his  reward — all  the  more  en- 
trancing as  it  was  devoid  of  extraneous  em- 
bellishment— the  face  and  no  more! 

The  black  eyes  gleamed,  the  brown  ringlets 
shook  and  seemed  to  exhale  ambrosia,  the  lips 
parted  in  a  delight  and  amaze,  or  perhaps  in 
horror  at  this  black  business,  and  then — all 
vanished!  The  same  deft  hand  which  had 
sounded  the  signal  on  the  lamp  as  a  bell,  pulled 
a  second  wire  which  crossed  the  pipe  midway 
with  a  valve-like  disc.  To  him  below  as  to 
her  above  was  darkness — an  impermeable  sep- 
aration. 

"What  a  lovely  visage!"  sighed  Didier,  pass- 
ing his  hand  over  his  ej'es,  as  though  they  were 
dazzled  by  a  ray  of  unclouded  sun. 

A  soft  hand  pressed  his  lips  and  prevented 
the  outcry  being  as  loud  as  otherwise  it  must 
have  risen. 

Louisette  was  by  his  side. 

"Well  done!"  said  she,  "but  talk  in  a  whis- 
per!" 

"Talk!  This  is  no  time — I  am  in  no  mood  to 
talk!"  responded  he,  testily,  shaking  off  the 
hand  rudely.  "Let  me  go!  Show  me  the  way, 
and  pocket  that  louis,  with  this  other  for  your 
pains!  Let  me  out  of  this  den!  I  must  know 
who  that  lady  is!" 

"Have  a  care!  Our  patrons  are  not  to  be 
followed  with  impunity!" 

"Lead  me,  or  I  will  break  out  through  the 
very  wall  at  haphazard!" 

So  changed  was  the  quiet  youth,  that  the 
transformation  had  as  alarming  an  effect  in 
Louisette  as  in  her  lover  Malargue.     Fright 


132     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

ened,  she  pointed  to  the  door  by  which  they 
had  entered,  and  gasped: 

"That  is  the  way!  But  do  come  back!  Oh, 
oh,  what  are  we  to  do  for  a  demon!" 

She  buried  her  face  in  her  scrap  of  an  orna- 
mental apron,  and  she  was  sobbing  as  he 
bounded  from  her. 

The  court  was  not  so  crammed  as  when  he 
came.  Some  of  the  visitors  had  departed, 
convinced  that  they  were  without  a  chance 
that  day;  the  carriages  and  litters  of  those 
who  had  seats  in  the  ante-room  were  removed 
to  give  the  horses  a  walk  round  the  gardens 
of  the  Palais  Royal;  and  most  of  the  idlers, 
having  enumerated  the  titles  of  the  persons 
of  quality  who  frequented  Signora  Floretia's 
Dordona,  had  gone  their  way. 

What  was  worse,  two  or  three  carriages, 
chairs  and  litters  were  departing  in  different 
directions,  almost  at  the  same  minute. 

In  spite  of  the  woman  having  been  declared 
to  be  plebeian  by  the  soothsayer,  Didier  enter- 
tained so  exalted  an  idea  of  the  position  which 
the  possessor  of  so  much  charm  must  attain, 
that  he  singled  out  a  splendid  glass  coach, 
heavy  with  carvings,  richly  gilt,  lumbering  off, 
at  the  tails,  be-ribboned  and  tied-up,  of  two 
immense  Flanders  horses. 

Luckily,  the  pavement  was  execrable  and  the 
work  of  demolition  of  the  ancient  City  wall 
filling  the  road  with  stones,  progress  was  slow 
to  so  large  a  vehicle. 

Didier,  by  means  of  his  ardor  and  brisk- 
ness, soon  overtook  it.  It  was  the  more  con- 
spicuous as  its  gildings  were  foiled  by  the 
sombre  pile  of  the  Chatelet  Prison,  at  the  end 
of  Ferraille  Quay. 

On  attaining  his  fugitive  goal,  he  was  more 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  133 

at  a  loss  than  ever,  for  to  run  up  to  the  win- 
dow and  peep  in  at  the  occupants,  was  to  in- 
cur the  suspicion  of  being  a  cloak-snatcher  or 
even  an  assassin,  for  it  might  contain  a  court 
functionary,  after  all  was  considered. 

While  speeding,  for  be  hesitated  only  men- 
tally, a  running  footman,  to  whom  the  coach- 
man, annoyed  by  this  persistent  pursuer,  had 
communicated  his  doubts,  turned  and  came  be- 
hind the  coach.  He  was  armed  with  a  malacca 
cane,  tipped  with  a  crest,  thickly  gilded.  It 
was  not  only  of  value  for  leaping  gutters  and 
so  guarding  his  magnificent  clothes,  but  as  a 
protection  against  thieves. 

He  was  over  six  feet  in  height — a  giant  to 
the  pursuer,  on  whom  he  looked  with  contempt 
as  he  stopped  him  by  placing  his  cane,  like 
a  spear  in  the  hands  of  a  gate  warder,  cross- 
wise before  him. 

"How  now?"  cried  he,  "are  we  to  lose  our 
lapdogs  and  coachwrappers  in  broad  day?" 

"The  name  of  your  mistress?  and  there  is 
five  pistoles  for  you!''  stammered  Didier,  gasp- 
ing for  breath,  and  not  sorry,  physically,  for 
the  enforced  halt. 

The  speaker  was  soberly  garbed,  we  know, 
and  nothing  but  his  sword  proclaimed  his  pre- 
tensions to  gentility.  To  tell  the  truth,  this 
required  furbishing,  and  he  was  smothered  in 
dust. 

But  it  was  a  day  of  good  and  of  bad  luck — 
like  our  life,  a  harlequin's  arrangement!  The 
coureur  took  pity  on  a  fine  young  man,  victim 
of  some  hallucination,  probably;  besides,  five 
pistoles  would  regale  his  comrades  of  the  cane 
and  the  whip. 

He  smiled  benignly  and  answered: 

"My  mistress?     It  is  the  Chatelaine  of  Brich- 


134  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

anteau.  If  you  were  read  in  heraldry,  my  stu- 
dent, you  would  see  that  by  the  silver  coun- 
ters on  my  canehead." 

"Oh,  the  chatelaine — not  married?" 

"Not — ha,  ha!  At  her  third  husband!  She 
is,  by  the  latest,  Madame  de  Tiffaunges,  and 
her  husband  is  the  Vice-President  of  the  Parlia- 
ment !" 

"Still,  she  is  fair,  about  thirty,  but  looking 
far  younger,  and  wears  her  golden  brown  hair 
in  curls?" 

Through  his  merriment  the  footman  replied: 

"The  pistoles,  please!  Thank  you!  In  our 
profession,  no  pay,  no  say!  That  is  a  Spanish 
one  with  a  hole  bored — but  never  mind!  My 
mistress  will  never  see  sixty  again!  Her  eyes 
are — one  green,  one  brown,  for  they  are  not 
mates!  By  the  same  token  there  is  a  ballad 
which  runs  the  street,  entitled:  'Two  Odd 
Eyes!'  but,  I  see,  ballads  to  another  occasion! 
As  for  hair,  faith!  She  is  wearing  her  black 
headdress  this  time — but  she  comes  out  in  all 
the  shades  of  brown  and  black,  to  suit  her  cos- 
tumes!" 

"One  question  more,  for  pity!"  said  Didier. 
"She  has  a  younger  lady  with  her?" 

"In  the  coach?" 

"Yes,  who  went  into  the  fortune-teller's,  La 
Floretia's,  while  your  ladv  sat  in  the  coach 
without?" 

"My  friend,  men  in  saner  senses  than  you 
have  been  clapped  into  the  Samaritaine  Hos- 
pital! The  only  companion  of  my  lady,  in  or 
out  of  coaches,  is  her  almoner,  the  good  Abbe 
Taisant.  It  was  he  whom  we  set  down  in  that 
confounded  Cul-de-sac,  where  we  had  scant 
room  to  turn,  for  him  to  give  a  purse  to  a  fam- 
ily in  poverty,  in  the  cellar  under  the  cobbler's 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  135 

stall.  The  cobbler  is  doing  no  business  since 
the  blind-alley  is  encumbered  with  great  folk 
by  reason  of  the  devil's  own — your  fortune-tel- 
ler! And  ho  had  to  press  his  tenants  for  rent. 
Ah,  go  to  a  better  world,  my  young  friend! 
This  is  a  sad  one  for  poor  folk!  Adieu!  I  and 
my  comrades  will  drink  your  health!'' 

Refreshed  by  his  rest,  the  long-legged  foot- 
man opened  his  limbs  out  like  those  of  com- 
passes, and  in  an  incredibly  short  time  was 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill  toward  St.  Sulpice's. 

Didier  retraced  his  steps,  crestfallen.  No 
one  would  have  recognised  the  victor  over  Ma- 
largue  or  even  the  jaunty  youth  who  had 
chatted  so  lightly  with  Louisette. 

In  a  few  hours  he  had  passed  out  of  the 
stage  of  the  lyrical  youth  and  now7  was  in  the 
passionate  one.  He  loved  the  wearer  of  that 
countenance  seen,  detached  from  all  else,  in 
the  mouth  of  the  Well  of  Truth. 

-.Marie!"  said  he,  disconsolately.  "The 
world  is  dark  until  I  have  the  brightness  of 
your  eyes  before  me,  again!'' 

In  the  neighborhood  of  the  fortune-teller's, 
no  one  could  inform  him  on  that  special  vis- 
itor. It  had  been  a  great  day  for  the  witch  and 
to  single  out  one  caller  was  impossible.  As 
for  Louisette,  he  was  convinced  that  he  had 
treated  her  too  cavalierly  to  have  her  still 
friendly.  Nevertheless,  as  it  was  the  only 
straw,  he  lingered  at  the  head  of  the  no-thor- 
oughfare to  see  her  again. 

Alas!  at  dark  she  came  out,  to  purchase  the 
supply  for  supper  no  doubt,  for  priestesses  of 
Apollo  must  eat — and  on  days  of  lavish  gains, 
sumptuously,  too.  But  she  wTas  not  alone. 
Carrying  her  basket,  and  having  one  of  her 


136     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

hands  tucked  under  his  arm,  was  the  trucu- 
lent Anspessade  Malargue. 

Didier  recognised  him,  although  his  change 
of  dress  was  not  as  brilliant  as  that  he  had 
spoiled. 

It  was  clear  that  he  had  invented  a  tale  to 
do  away  with  the  bad  impression  left  by  his 
failure  to  keep  his  tryst,  and  that  LoUisette, 
not  wanting  to  be  questioned  closely  on  the 
owner  of  the  head  seen  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Well  of  Truth  by  the  mysterious  "Marie,"  was 
eager  to  substitute  a  feast  instead  of  the  pasty 
and  wine  attacked  by  her  demon  of  an  hour. 

To  be  sure,  there  was  the  resource  of  asking 
the  soothsayer,  pointblank,  the  quality  of  her 
visitor;  but  the  young  gentleman  from  Blois 
had  learnt  a  good  deal  from  his  brief  sojourn 
in  Paris.  He  wisely  reined  himself  in  from 
conferring  rudely  with  a  woman  who  evidently 
was  a  reservoir  of  the  secrets  of  the  capital 
and  who  could  find,  without  her  witchcraft, 
one  of  those  sheets  of  paper,  garnished  with 
the  royal  seal  and  signature,  and  countersigned 
"Richelieu,"  vulgarly  called  "lett?-es  de  cachet" 
or  in  plain  words,  "blank  warrants  of  arrest." 
Such  a  document  would  suffice  to  make  Didier, 
who  had  exhausted  his  funds,  and  was  wonder- 
ing where  he  should  pass  the  night,  acquainted 
with  the  accommodation  of  the  Chatelet,  whose 
gloomy  shadow  had  made  him  shudder  while 
he  was  questioning  the  running  footman. 

"Home!"  said  he,  abruptly.  "If  it  is  heav- 
en's will,  we  shall  meet  again!  I  am  not  the 
man  to  starve  in  his  Majesty's  prison!  Better 
die  under  his  flag,  charging  the  foe!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  137 


CHArTER  VIII. 

FUGITIVES. 

The  days  were  shortening  and  the  shadows 
lengthening,  as  a  man  who  had  ridden  on  post- 
horses  from  Paris  in  high  haste,  alighted  at 
Chambord,  and  spite  of  the  fading  daylight, 
and  instead  of  taking  the  refreshment  offered 
by  the  landlord  of  the  posthonse,  walked  brisk- 
ly into  the  Woods. 

"  "That  gentleman  will  be  stripped  of  his  fine 
feathers,*'  said  the  host  sulkily,  at  being  balked 
of  legitimate  prey.  "What  the  mischief  does 
a  court  gallant,  fresh  as  from  his  dressing- 
chamber,  want  with  woodmen's  paths  amid  the 
briars  and  thorns?" 

He  looked  curiously  after  the  stranger  until 
the  latter  was  lost  to  view  under  the  noble 
trees. 

He  was  right  to  criticise  this  odd  proceed- 
ing. 

The  traveller  was  clad  in  the  extreme  of  the 
mode,  under  a  horseman's  cloak,  donned  hur- 
riedly for  the  posting.  He  was  a  man  under 
twenty-five,  who  wore  the  luxurioushabiliments 
with  the  ease  of  custom.  His  doublet  was  of  Ge- 
noa brocade-on-brocade,that  is,  a  super- weaving 
of  gold  thread  over  velvet,  worthy  of  a  queen's 
drawing-room.  An  over-body-coat  of  maroon 
velvet  guarded  the  superb  garment,  but  was 
open  in  the  front  and  slashed  on  the  full 
sleeves  to  show  the  stuff,  as  well  as  lace  wrists 
and  a  collar  upon  which  the  nuns  of  Belgium 


138  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

must  have  toiled  for  months.  His  ample 
breeches  were  buttoned  with  gold  studs,  each 
a  miracle  of  chiselling,  and  the  sides  were 
fringed  with  gold;  they  dropped  by  their  own 
weight  into  funnel  boots  of  scented  morocco, 
stamped  with  gold  in  Old  Spanish  devices. 
His  spurs  were  of  the  same  precious  metal  and 
from  the  hand  of  some  noted  smith.  His  large 
felt  hat  was  trimmed  with  lace  and  adorned 
with  four  or  five  costly  plumes,  two  sticking 
upright  in  defiance  of  the  evening  breeze  and 
the  others  artfully  curled  and  dropping  around 
over  the  supple  rim. 

His  eyes  and  his  features,  powdered  and  rud- 
dy with  cosmetic,  notwithstanding  his  dusty 
ride,  betrayed  vanity,  frivolity  and  fickleness; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  his  sword,  with  a  finely 
cut-steel  hilt,  hung  at  the  Cordovan  leather 
baldric  with  that  inimitable  availability  for  in- 
stant use  which  would  have  caused  a  footpad 
— probably,  haunting  the  forest — to  think 
twice  before  attacking  this  gay  butterfly. 

If  he  would  be  surprised  at  seeing  him  here, 
so  would  the  associates  of  this  magnificent 
beau — the  Marquis  of  Saverny,  "the  dainty  Na- 
zaire,"  whom  the  chroniclers  cite  as  a  per- 
fect fop. 

Although  it  was  hard  walking  in  riding 
boots  in  a  woodland  path,  where  the  unearthed 
roots  jutted  out,  and  stones  were  washed  up 
by  the  October  showers,  he  made  very  good 
way  and  emerged  into  the  open,  with  a  sigh 
of  relief,  where  he  saw  the  River  Loire  gleam 
und(  r  a  growing  mist  and  the  spires  and  tow- 
ers of  Blois  rise  from  its  bank. 

He  let  down  the  tops  of  his  boots,  which  had 
defended  him  from  the  brambles,  and  brush- 
ing off  the  dust  with  an  improvised  wisp  of 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  139 

hazel  twigs,  prepared  to  enter  the  town  by 
the  bridge. 

But,  for  once,  he  showed  more  prudence 
than  might  be  expected  in  a  coxcomb.  To 
save  the  expense  of  a  tollhouse  at  each  end  of 
the  bridge,  the  ingenious  city  officials  had  Es- 
tablished a  central  house  where  the  bridge 
guards  and  tin  turnpike  collector  could  harbor 
themselves  in  wet  weather. 

The  marquis  no  sooner  reached  this  small 
and  smoky  hole  than  he  showed  to  the  soldiers 
and  the  collector  a  very  bright  specimen  of 
the  coinage  of  the  realm,  and  said  in  a  win- 
some voice,  which  few  creditors  had  ever  re- 
sisted— and  it  is  known  how  obdurate  they  are! 

"My  friends,  here  is  the  wherewithal  to  quaff 
a  stoop  of  wine  at  my  expense.  I  am  the  Chev- 
alier of  Avannes,  whose  valet  was  thrown  from 
his  horse  on  the  river  road  and  so  I  am  forced 
to  enter  the  city  and  my  lodgings  alone.  Al- 
low me  to  shake  the  dust  off  my  clothes  before 
I  cross  the  bridge-sill!'' 

"Enter,  my  cavalier!"  said  the  collector.  "I 
may  trust  your  lordship  not  to  dip  into  my 
till — ha,  ha!  more  particularly  as  the  usher  of 
the  Court  of  Accounts  has  just  called,  as  is  his 
wont,  at  dusk,  to  transport  all  the  takings 
to  the  Hall  of  the  States  of  Blois." 

Saverny  stepped  within  the  box  with  alac- 
rity. 

At  almost  the  same  moment,  a  man  on  horse- 
back rode  over  the  bridge.  He  was  dressed 
in  black  under  a  brown  cloak,  which  had  a 
sanguinary  hue  in  the  dying  sunlight,  reflected 
from  the  rolling  river. 

From  habit  he  darted  a  searching  glance  at 
the  soldiers  and  the  collector  to  whom  he  flung 
a  coin  for  his  passage.     He  could  not  see  the 


140     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

marquis,  who  had  shrunk  into  the  darkest  cor- 
ner, muttering: 

"My  good  star  has  saved  me!  It  is  Laffe- 
mas!  It  is  the  Cardinal's  inquisitor!  Al- 
ready they  are  after  me  for  that  pestilent  little 
lampoon !  Oh  to  be  an  author — only  once,  and 
then  to  be  chased  like  a  hare  for  the  lines!" 

But  recovering  from  his  alarm,  and  reason- 
ing that  an  excellent  way  to  baffle  a  pursuer  is 
to  follow  him,  keeping  him  in  sight,  turning 
as  he  turns  and  stopping  when  he  stops  so 
that  a  marked  interval  separates  the  twain, 
Saverny,  having  adjusted  his  dress  to  be  less 
out  of  keeping  with  the  requirements  of  a 
town,  sallied  forth,  bowed  to  by  the  soldiers. 
They  were  the  more  respectful  as  he  had  folded 
up  his  cloak  and  hung  it  over  his  left  arm,  and 
his  strikingly  bright  apparel  was  visible  in  the 
twilight. 

It  was  not  difficult  to  chase  the  man  in  black 
whom  he  called  Laffemas. 

This  man  left  his  horse  at  the  Crowned  Pig 
Inn,  in  Cross  Street,  and  took  the  devious  way 
into  Old  Street  with  an  easy  tread. 

It  was  not  astonishing  that  the  marquis,  as 
a  courtier,  should  so  readily  recognise  Norbert 
Laffemas,  almost  as  well  known,  for  an  agent 
of  Cardinal  Kichelieu,  as  Father  Joseph  him- 
self. 

The  two  latter  had  carried  police-craft  to  a 
high  stage  of  excellence,  above  that  where 
Mouchi,  Francis  I.'s  Inquisitor-general  had  left 
it. 

To  lead  this  band  of  spies,  emissaries  and 
secret  messengers  the  Minister  had  chosen,  to 
some  surprise,  a  humble  clerk  in  the  Court  of 
Requests,  Laffemas,  reputed  son  of  a  valet  of 
the  preceding  King. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  141 

This  man,  though  said  to  be  a  born  Parisian, 
had  the  sunburnt  tint  and  awkward  ways  of  a 
peasant  from  the  south,  llis  nose  was  long, 
yel  hooked  and  pointed;  his  eyes  were  bright 
but  cunningly  avoided  having  their  glance 
caught,  and  wandered,  in  conversation,  like  an 
erratic  meteor.  He  usually  wore  the  black 
garb  of  clerks  and  ecclesiastics. 

He  was  cleanshaven,  as  if  he  had  heard  of 
the  royal  advice  as  to  removal  of  the  "goatee" 
or  chin-tuft  which  Louis  had  favored  until  he 
noticed  that  it  grew  more  flourishingly  on  the 
chin  of  his  Minister  than  on  his  own.  So  the 
"royale"  had  become  "cardinale,"  and  was 
thenceforth  prohibited. 

Laffemas  was  no  sooner  appointed  Master  of 
the  Court  of  Requests  than  the  terrible  babble 
of  the  court  stated  the  "true"  grounds  for  his 
promotion.  "He  is  a  kinsman  of  the  Cardi- 
nal; his  nephew  or  Bishop  Alphonse's;  why  not 
his  unclaimed  son?"  But  in  vain  did  they 
seek  for  a  point  of  resemblance  in  the  suppo- 
sitious father  and  son;  Laffemas  remained  vul- 
gar, not  at  all  showing  a  trait  of  identity  with 
the  son  of  Captain  Francois  Duplessis,  re- 
nowned in  the  Wars  of  the  League. 

If,  at  times,  Richelieu  showered  favors  on 
this  dubious  connection,  at  others  he  treated 
him  roughly  and  as  if  despising  him. 

But,  on  the  whole,  Laffemas  had  more  smiles 
than  rebuffs  and,  since  a  mystery  at  court  is 
like  a  mystery  elsewhere,  that  is,  enjoying  some 
attention,  Laffemas  profited,  and  had  made 
himself  dreaded. 

To  be  dreaded  at  court  is  more  valuable  than 
to  be  loved,  since  poor  human  nature's  love  is 
more  ephemeral  than  its  hate  or  spite. 


142  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

In  the  meantime,  the  marquis  stalked  the  po- 
lice chief  as  he  might  a  buck. 

But,  severally,  Laffeinas  passed  the  mayor's, 
the  chief  of  the  local  Parliament's  residence, 
the  guardhouses,  the  watch-houses,  the  little- 
castle  or  prison. 

"I  am  sure  he  is  not  going  to  arrest  me,  even 
granting  that  he  followed  me  down  here,  so 
close  at  my  heels.  I  am  no  Koland,  but  even 
a  Laffemas  would  not  dare  single-handed  to 
try  to  arrest  me.  How  do  I  know  but,  like 
many  another  rogue — for  he  is  rogue,  a  Du- 
plessis  or  a  Laffemas!  he  is  running  with  the 
hare  and  holding  with  the  hounds — I  mean,  he 
comes  to  Blois  under  pretext  of  inviting  me  to 
appear  before  Presiding  Judge  d'Argenson  at 
the  Chamber  of  Justice  in  the  Arsenal  for  my 
petty  verses  on  the  royal  barber-ism!  But 
really  to  make  a  call  on  some  lady-friend! 
But,  Laffemas,  in  love!"  added  the  noble, 
thoughtfully.  "That  would  be  news  for  my 
circle,  if  ever  I  dare  enter  within  the  city 
bounds  again!" 

As  he  was  sighing,  he  saw  his  object  stop, 
lie  had  barely  time  to  throw  himself  into  a  deep 
doorway. 

Laffemas  buried  himself  in  the  like. 

"He  is  expected!  It  is  a  meeting!"  muttered 
the  marquis.  "I  am  on  the  track  of  a  cabal! 
Who  would  deny  that  I  may  catch  Master  Laf- 
femas tripping,  so  that  he  will  make  requests 
to  me  for  pardon,  lest  I  ruin  him  with  his  mus- 
ter?" 

Eager  to  check  his  pursuer,  as  he  believed 
him,  the  noble  forgot  his  dignity  and  ap- 
proached the  doorway  with  a  cautious  step  not 
to  be  bettered  by  a  professed  thief. 

Night  came  fast.    He  stood  beside  the  pro- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  143 

jetting  porch,  hewn  out  of  thick  oak,  black 
with  raindrip  and  dust,  bis  gay  at  lire  dimmed 
by  the  gloom  iu  tbe  street,  where  tbe  houses, 
built  with  each  story  overhanging,  made  noon 
often  as  dark  as  eve,  and  eve  was  always  as 
midnight. 

A  lamp  swung  to  a  rope  across  tbe  street, 
it  is  true,  but  as  tbe  Almanack  of  Strasburg, 
on  which  the  lamplighter  relied,  promised 
bright  moonlight,  the  worthy  Prometheus  of 
Blois  had  taken  his  supper  and  was  going  to 
rest  without  a  twinge  of  conscience. 

"I  was  right,"  muttered  Saverny.  "It  was 
an  appointment.  He  has  knocked  in  a  pecu- 
liar way  and  the  door  is  opened.  A  woman — 
ha!  'tis  the  Old  Woman  of  convention,  tbe 
duenna,  who  identities  him — she  will  lead  him 
indoors  and  I  shall  lose  my  man!'' 

As  he  rattled  his  spurs  in  his  stamp  of  bad- 
ly concealed  vexation,  he  still  heard  the  two 
voices — an  old  woman's  squeaking  and  hoarse 
by  turns,  and  Laffemas',  jovial  but  relapsing 
into  a  sharp  grating  tone  which  revealed  insin- 
cerity and  temper  easily  exasperated. 

Saverny  lost  not  a  sentence  of  their  dialogue. 

"I  cannot  let  you  in,"  said  the  woman;  "and 
yet,  God  wot!  I  did  long  to  sit  at  the  board 
with  you  and  see  you  dipping  your  nose  in  the 
wine  from  my  own  little  vintage  on  Coigncux 
Hill!  But  my  mistress  has  returned  and  she 
is  going  to  stay  in,  I  am  sin  j." 

"Well,  and  have  you  discovered,  dear  moth- 
er!" said  Laffemas,  wheedlingly,  "who  your 
mistress  really  is?  Your  account  of  her  un- 
common  good  looks — " 

"Beauty,  son!" 

"Mother — and  son!"  echoed  Saverny,  glueing 
his  ear  to  the  other  side  of  the  plank.     "Haw 


144  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

I  penetrated  the  secret  of  bis  origin?  Woe  to 
thee,  Master  Lafi'emas,  if  you  have  the  war- 
rant for  my  arrest  in  your  pouch!  I  will  make 
you  swallow  it  and  ram  it  home  with  this  dis- 
covery! This  hag  never  mated  with  so  proud 
a  being  as  our  Minister,  or  I  will  die  on  the 
gibbet  for  my  mistake!" 

"Her  stock  of  jewels,  in  the  secret  drawer  of 
her  chest,  her  skill  in  music,  her  witty  words 
— who  is  she,  mother?" 

"My  dear  boy,  I  have  obeyed  your  instruc- 
tions and,  whenever  she  went  out,  which  was 
seldom  enough  for  a  proper  ferreting  in  her 
room — I  examined  everything,  ripped  up  se- 
cret pockets,  pried  cunningly  devised  draw- 
ers— " 

"Be  quick!" 

"Oh,  we  have  no  passers  here;  it  is  a  turna- 
gain  lane  and  all  citizens  go  up  Old  Street. 
Well,  I  found  out  all  about  her.  Her  name 
is  Marie  Chalons,  only  in  part.  She  is  Marion 
Delorme — " 

"The  court  beauty,  who  has  disappeared 
from  all  eyes  for  the  last  three  weeks?  Who 
was  thought  to  be  in  London,  or  Madrid,  fur- 
thering the  plots  of  the  Queen  or  of  the  King's 
brother,  Prince  Gaston?  Mother,  you  are  a 
dotard!" 

"This  lovely  woman  is  Marion  Delorme,"  re- 
peated the  old  woman  deliberately.  "No  soon- 
er had  I  the  clue  than  I  went  out  and  bought 
some  chapbooks  of  the  pedlar  at  the  perma- 
nent fair  on  the  North  Quay.  Well,  there  was 
her  portrait  in  two  or  three — not  works  of  art 
as  in  the  Bishop's  palace  where  I  was  char- 
woman, you  know — but  sufficient  to  hang  a 
pian  upon!" 

'Marion,  here?"  said  Laffemas  in  a  wonder 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  145 

as  great  as  thai  the  other  listener  was  thrilled 

by.    "But.  certainly,  she  had  to  be  somewhere!" 

"What  are  yob  muttering?"  croaked  the  hag, 
ill-humoredly;  "do  you  doubt  me?  what  I  have 
seen?  It  is  true,  I  had  but  a  glimpse  of  the 
creature,  iu  Paris,  when  I  was  playing  the 
fortune-teller,  for  your  ends,  I  suspect,  if  also 
a  trifle  to  my  purse-filling!  She  came  with  a 
veil,  but  I  did  see  her!  not  a  face  to  be  for- 
got! I  tell  you  again,  pictures  in  the  penny- 
books  to  the  contrary,  if  you  gainsay  them! 
this  is  Marion  Delorme!" 

"I  do  not  doubt  you,  mother,"  w7heedlingly 
said  the  Cardinal's  Executioner.  Then,  in  a 
lower  tone,  so  that  Saverny  with  difficulty 
overheard,  "I  warrant  ye  that  she  is  here,  in 
the  shadow,  all  to  carry  out  a  plot!  it  may 
make  us!  She  has  never  committed  herself 
for  King  or  Cardinal,  but  I  suspect  she  is  not 
for  us!  If  this  be  Marion,  she  could  not  keep 
out  of  the  whiff  of  the  court  winds!  Does  she 
have  callers — many?  of  what  nature!" 

"Only  one." 

"Ah!  that  is  judicious!  man  or  woman?" 

"A  voung  man — " 

"Noble,  or  merely  a  messenger?" 

"He  carries  himself  nobly  enough;  but  is 
grave  bevond  his  years,  taciturn — I  cannot 
draw  a  word  but  the  salute  of  the  day  from 
him'." 

"Is  he  ever  in  livery — what  are  the  colors,  the 
badge?" 

"Oh,  he  is  his  own  master!  he  wears  sombre 
attire—" 

"More  precautious:" 

"But  carries  a  sword  as  one  born  to  wear  it !" 

"Of  course,  if  the  project  is  great,  the  inter- 
mediary would  be  a  gentleman  at  the  least/' 


146  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


commented  Laffemas.     "Do  you  see  much  of 
him — what  is  he  like,  close  to?" 

"At  first,  I  let  him  in;  then,  mistress  sent 
me  to  bed,  and  undid  the  door  for  him  with  her 
own  hand.  But,  lately,  she  has  become  sus- 
picious of  me — poor  old,  decrepit  woman  that 
I  am!  and  she  facilitates  his  scaling  her  bal- 
cony." 

Laffemas  and  Saverny  looked  up.  They  could 
see  that  a  heavy  iron-work  window-guard  pro- 
jected under  a  window,  after  the  manner  of 
Spanish  ones,  and  a  Borneo  w7ould  have  little 
difficulty,  if  his  Juliet  lowered  the  end  of  a 
scarf,  in  climbing  up  into  the  room  overhead. 

"Are  you  sure  it  is  a  man?"  said  Laffemas, 
lowering  his  eyes.  "These  intriguantes!  the 
Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  for  example,  has 
cheated  her  own  hall-porter  in  masculine  dis- 
guise!" 

"It  is  a  man,"  replied  the  woman. 

"But,  after  all,  may  it  not  be  a  lover?  a 
beauty  like  Marion  is  capable  of  falling  into 
downright  love,  one  of  these  days,  after  having 
shocked  the  Seine  into  running  red  with  her 
fickleness!" 

"Lover?  hoity-toity!  what  a  singular  lover! 
I  have  listened;  and  upon  my  faith!  he  seems 
to  preach  to  her!" 

"A  Huguenot?  or  can  it  be  the  English 
agent,  Montague?"  muttered  the  agent  of  Rich- 
elieu, reflecting. 

"And  when  they  sing  together — " 

"They  sing  together?"  exclaimed  the  other; 
"come,  this  is  not  like  conspiracv,  unless  it  be 
a  blind!" 

"They  whine  psalms,  I  believe,  rather  than 
what  I  knew  as  love  songs  in  my  days!" 

"We  will  see  what  time  he  sings  in  the  cage!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  1  IT 

said  the  man  whom  she  styled  "son,"  empha- 
sising the  words  and  chuckling. 

"Arrest  her,  and  her  visitor?" 

"Oh,  arrest  Marion?  thai  is  another  matter! 
but  I  can  take  a  midnight  escalader  of  a  peace- 
ful balcony!  Then  we  shall  know  who  he  is, 
and  secure  any  papers  he  may  bear  to  her  or 
from  her.  Marion  has  a  literary  turn!  I 
should  not  wonder — remember  this!  but  she 
wrote  the  quip  about  the  King  ordering  all  his 
Household  to  remove  their  chinbeards,  because 
the  Cardinal — great  and  generous  patron! — has 
a  finer  one!" 

"What  quip?" 

"Oh,  verses  with  which  half  the  town  rings, 
and  the  other  half  laughs  over!  They  begin: 
'The  tidings  surely  you  have  heard,  how  woe's 
befallen  chin  and  beard — '" 

"My  satire!"  murmured  Saverny,  thrilling 
with  an  author's  joy. 

"What  time  does  he  call?" 

"Midnight!  without  fear  of  the  marauders!" 
said  the  old  woman,  crossing  herself. 

"And  stays—" 

"How  do  I  know  how  long?  I  cannot  keep 
such  hours.  I  tell  the  truth — I  wanted  to  over- 
hear and  acquaint  you  with  what  they  said, 
but  they  speak  low,  and  I  fell  asleep  on  the 
landing!  Then,  I  gave  it  up,  still  to  confess  to 
you,  my  boy!  and  I  go  to  my  regular  sleep." 

"Poor  mother!  unless  you  have  made  a  great 
slip!  But  it  matters  not!  I  will  get  a  patrol 
of  the  archers  and,  at  twelve,  we  will  capture 
our  Cid  as  he  clambers  into  Donna  Mariana's 
chamber  window!" 

"But  I  shall  lose  a  liberal  mistress!" 

"I  will  make  up  for  all  that.  Know,  mother 
dear,  that  I  am  promoted:   I  am  Master  of  the 


148     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Requests  Court,  and  I  aim  still  higher.    Why 
should  I  not,  with  a  sire  like  to  mine?" 

The  old  woman  coughed.  She  has  been  hold- 
ing the  door  ajar  during  this  dialogue  and  the 
night  air  began  to  affect  her. 

"As  you  please,  Jean — " 

"Jean!  hang  me  with  your  'Jeans!'  bear  in 
mind,  that  I  am  Norbert!  a  Jean,  at  court — 
save  the  mark!" 

"Jean  or  Norbert,  bear  you  in  mind  that  I 
have  always  my  own  little  cottage  on  the  hill, 
which  I  bought  with  the  money  I  brought  back 
from  Calcutta.  And,  faith!  I  am  tired  of  wait- 
ing on  the  fine  lady,  who  pretends  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  this  quiet  town,  but  yet  wants  all  the 
luxuries  of  a  palace!  As  for  the  young  gentle- 
man, what  is  his  value  to  me?  since  I  see  him 
no  more,  farewell  to  any  fee  for  opening  the 
door  and  letting  him  out!  Ah,  it  was  a  mean 
man  who  invented  windows  so  large  that  folks 
can  use  them  and  evade  the  portress!  Take 
him,  my  dear  Chief  'Clap-the-shoulder!'  " 

"I  will  do  it,  at  midnight,  grandam!" 

Saverny  heard  him  kiss  the  old  woman  on  the 
forehead  filially,  and  he  laughed  to  himself. 

"It's  his  dam!  an  old  fox!  I  don't  need  to 
see  her  to  identify  her  in  the  day!  he  is  the 
copy  of  her  or  I  am  badly  misled  by  the  simi- 
larity of  their  unpleasant  voices." 

He  crouched  down,  drew  his  cloak  over  his 
gay  clothes,  and  waited  for  Laffemas  to  be  off. 

The  latter  let  the  door  close  behind  him. 
and,  muffling  himself  in  his  cloak,  for  the  dews 
were  falling,  he  stepped  to  the  sill  of  the  porch. 

"I  have  found  Marion,"  muttered  he,  "for 
whom  all  Paris  was  looking!  It  is  a  fresh  cabal 
and  all  the  more  decisive  as  they  have  induced 
Marion,  a  pattern  of  neutrality,  to  join  them! 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  149 

Who  is  this  go-between  in  dark  clothes? 
Chalais'  ghost?  Baradas!  or  the  King's  jester, 
Langely,  who  delights  in  changing  his  parti- 
colored suit  for  dun  or  sable,  and  poking  his 
sharp  nose  into  all  conspiracies?  Well,  we 
shall  know  in  four  or  five  hours!  I  will  arrest 
this  gallant!  I  can  easily  excuse  myself,  if  I 
blunder,  to  say  nothing  of  Papa  Richelieu  be- 
ing ever-lenient  to  this  unlegitimatised  child! 
I  will  declare  that  he  wrote  'The  tidings  surely 
you  have  heard!' " 

"The  villain!"  muttered  Saverny,  trembling 
with  rage;  "another  will  be  punished  for  my 
lines!  he  will  go  down  to  posterity  as  the  au- 
thor! and  no  one  will  know  that  the  Savernys 
had  a  genius  in  the  family!1' 

In  his  excitement  he  moved  and  his  sword- 
hilt  rapped  against  the  stone  where  he  cow- 
ered. 

Laffemas,  who  had  taken  a  few  steps  upon 
the  street,  stopped,  half-slipping  on  the  round 
stones.  But  if  he  saw  the  form  shrouded  in  the 
cloak,  he  perhaps  recalled  what  his  mother  had 
said  about  no  citizens  using  this  lane-without- 
a-head,  and,  afraid  it  was  a  robber,  he  set  his 
face  towards  Old  Street  and  rapidly  retired. 

The  marquis  came  out  of  his  ambush. 

"What  a  find!"  said  he.  "Marion,  here! 
buried  in  Blois  to  keep  appointments  with  a 
lover,  or  to  play  the  boy  who  poises  on  the 
seesaw  between  the  one  who  goes  up  and  the 
other  who  goes  down!  who  is  the  gallant? 
Cerest  is  in  Venice!  Pons  does  not  know  where 
she  is,  or  he  would  not  dangle  round  her  house 
in  the  Place  Royale;  as  for  that  hotblood,  Nes- 
mond,  who  is  the  springald  to  climb  balconies, 
by  reason  of  his  Andalusian  si  rain,  he  is 
enamored  of  La  Neveu!    Death  of  my  life!    T. 


150     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

am  as  eager  as  our  friend  Laffemas  to  know 
who  so  allures  the  reigning  Circe  as  to  cause 
her  to  quit  us  incontinently  and  dwell  in  ob- 
scurity!" 

Mechanically,  he  was  following  again  in  the 
footsteps  of  the  cardinalistic  Inquisitor,  when 
a  sudden  thought  struck  him,  so  lightning-like 
that  he  was  transfixed  to  the  spot. 

"What  an  imbecile  this  terror  of  the  lam- 
pooners has  made  me!"  he  ejaculated.  "Why 
should  I  wander  in  this  town  for  a  refuge, 
when  my  old  friend  Marion  does  not  expect 
her  cavalier  until  midnight?  I  am  supplied 
with  the  arranged-for  rapping  which  summons 
her  lovely  handmaid  to  the  door  and  I  doubt 
not  that  Marion  will  be  delighted  to  welcome  a 
brother  in  exile!  Besides,  I  bear  the  latest 
news,  such  as  would  hardly  reach  Blois  the 
Benighted  under  a  month.  Here  goes!  at  the 
worst,  I  can  only  be  thrust  out  of  the  window! 
and  a  window  into  which  a  man  can  step  from 
the  street  cannot  much  disable  one  who  leaps 
from  it!" 

He  entered  the  porch,  outside  which  he  had 
played  the  eavesdropper,  and  knocked  in  the 
same  manner  as  Laffemas  had  done. 

As  he  conjectured,  the  unfaithful  guardian 
of  the  house  believed  that  the  late  visitor  had 
returned  to  correct  his  instructions  or  for  some 
purpose  which  she  judged  to  be  important. 
She  opened  the  door  with  an  alacrity  which 
electrified  her  aged  nerves,  and  as  she  carried 
a  lamp  this  time,  Saverny  saw  who  confronted 
him. 

It  was  a  little  old  woman  with  the  same  sad- 
dle-colored tint  of  Laffemas,  his  long,  hooked 
and  pointed  nose,  the  same  piercing  eyes  which 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  151 

flitted  from  being  fastened  by  another's  glance 
— in  short,  the  likeness  was  manifest. 

"Good  evening,  Mother  Laffemas!"  cried  Sa- 
verny,  stepping  within  and  planting  one  funnel 
boot  so  far  ahead  that  it  was  impossible  to 
close  the  door,  which  she  instantly  showed  a 
desire  to  do  on  seeing  it  was  a  stranger. 

"Mother  What?  my  name  is  Rose!"  she 
snappishly  replied. 

"Rose,  be  it,  sweet  one!  I  am  of  the  court, 
courtly,  you  understand  and  I  used  the  name 
uttered  merely  as  a  passport  to  j-our  good 
graces.  I  am  a  dear  friend  of  our  dear  boy 
Jean  Norbert  Laffemas,  newly  appointed  Mas- 
ter of  the  Court  of  Requests,  and,  like  him,  I 
am  a  rabid  Cardinalist!  I  see,  like  my  master, 
nor  black  nor  white,  but  red — Cardinal  Red, 
you  understand!" 

This  impassioned  address  did  not  seem  to 
unbend  the  wrinkled  visage,  and  he  changed 
his  key. 

■ 

"1  am  a  friend,  also,  of  the  lady  upstairs,  and, 
as  a  proof,  I  tender  you  to  ten  x>istoles,  which 
see!  to  usher  me  into  her  presence." 

Dame  Rose,  as  she  preferred  to  be  called, 
looked  hard  into  the  speakers  blue  eyes,  and 
on  his  blonde  face,  but  the  first  were  so  insipid 
and  the  second  so  spiritless  that  she  considered 
that  this  was  a  harmless  guest.  His  knowledge 
of  her  relation  to  her  previous  caller  still 
rankled  in  her,  for  she  sulkily  said: 

"I  suppose  you  may  go  up,  the  pistoles  being 
honest  money  of  which  mistress  need  not  hear 
a  word — " 

Sa veiny  passed  the  coin  over  to  her  crisped 
hand,  which  dosed  on  the  instant  with  avidity, 
showing  that  she  was  vulnerable  to  greed. 
Then,  with  the  other  hand,  lifting  up  the  lightz 


152     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

she  indicated  that  he  might  ascend  the  dingy- 
stairs  uncoiling  before  them  at  the  end  of  a 
murky  corridor. 

The  marquis  bowed  ironically  and  took  the 
direction. 

On  the  landing,  spite  of  his  recklessness,  he 
paused.  But  through  a  keyhole  streamed  not 
only  a  pencil  of  light  but  a  streak  of  rich  per- 
fume. 

"Marion,  to  a  certainty!"  he  exclaimed,  and, 
emboldened,  he  rapped  on  the  heavy  door. 
"  Tis  her  Essence  of  Gulistan,  forsooth!" 

He  had,  this  time  by  accident,  hit  upon 
another  signal  prearranged,  for  a  quick,  light 
step  was  immediately  heard  upon  the  rough 
wooden  floor,  with  intermittent  subdued  scuf- 
fling where  a  mat  or  rug  was  in  the  path;  a 
hand  seized  the  handle  impatiently,  and  the 
door  opened. 

The  marquis,  as  he  had  done  at  the  street 
door,  stepped  in  to  the  aperture. 

The  inmate  recoiled. 

"Marion!  it  is  our  fairest  of  Marions!"  ejacu- 
lated the  noble,  clapping  his  hands  in  joy. 

"The  marquis!   Saverny!   Nazaire!" 

This  outcry  of  surprise  came  from  the  cherry 
lips  most  admired  in  all  Paris,  the  Rendezvous 
of  the  Lovely,  and,  consequently,  Marion  De- 
lorme,  whose  other  features  were  as  adorable, 
might  consider  herself  as  an  European  cyno- 
sure. 

Saverny,  although  a  regular  frequenter  of 
her  reception-room,  could  not  refrain  from  the 
compliment  of  gazing  on  her,  almost  spell- 
bound, as  compensation  for  the  dearth  of  not 
haying  seen  her  recently. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  153 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A  NEBULOUS  LOVER. 

Marion  was  born  in  1001,  as  Dame  Eose, 
otherwise  the  fortune-teller  of  the  Blancha- 
pelle  Blind-alley,  had  divined,  not  a  little,  prob- 
ably, upon  the  information  supplied  by  her 
precious  relative,  Latfemas.  But  it  was  kept 
as  a  great  secret. 

But  she  was  one  of  those  women  blessed  with 
perennial  youth.  Like  Ninon,  or  the  Fair  Ga- 
brielle,  she  could  defy  time.  In  what  was 
called  a  neglige,  but  which  house-dress  was  the 
result  of  much  art,  deeply  studied,  she  looked 
no  less  near  twenty  here  than  at  the  Cave  of 
Apollo  in  the  Cul-de-sac  Blanchapelle. 

Brightness  and  clearness  of  eye,  black  but 
looking  dark  blue;  freshness  of  complexion, 
although  it  owed  something  to  the  cares  of  the 
toilet,  no  doubt;  sprightliness  of  attitudes  and 
suppleness  of  carriage,  vivacity  unspeakable, 
the  delight  of  the  wits  and  poets,  for  it  was 
the  age  of  Colletet,  Boisrobert,  Chapelain  and 
others  more  brilliant  in  drawing-rooms  than 
on  paper;  above  all,  winsomeness;  Marion  was 
a  favorite  of  the  Cyprian  Goddess,  without  de- 
nial. 

She  retreated  to  an  easy  chair  and  leant  one 
faultless  arm  upon  it,  as  she  stared  at  the  in- 
truder, muttering,  by  way  of  silent  retort  to 
his  outspoken  admiration: 

"Inopportune  blockhead!  who  would  have 
dreamt  this  noodle  would  discover  me?" 


154  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Why,  how  cow?  Are  we  not  still  friends, 
fair  Marion?"  said  the  fop,  advancing  closely 
and  opening  his  arms  as  if  she  ought  to  bound 
into  them  with  gladness. 

"Let  us  be  friends,  as  ever,  but  at  a  dis- 
tance," replied  she,  biting  her  lip  till  it  assumed 
a  deep  carnation. 

"Do  we  not  embrace  at  this  jovous  meet- 
ing?" 

"Not  on  my  part!" 

She  sat  in  the  chair  like  a  queen,  and  took  up 
a  piece  of  embroidery  with  the  golden  bodkin 
to  work  on  it,  as  if  she  had  already  dismissed 
him. 

"A  poor  little  wee  tiny  kiss!"  persisted  the 
worshiper. 

"My  lord!"  cried  Marion,  in  so  angry  a  voice 
that,  not  having  heard  the  like  before,  he 
stopped,  rivetted  to  the  floor. 

"What  cruel  caprice  has  seized  you?"  stam- 
mered he. 

Afraid  that  the  reception  would  incline  him 
to  quit,  he  threw  down  his  mantle  on  a  settee 
by  the  door,  like  a  viking  casting  off  the  rope 
of  his  galley;  and  looked  beseechingly  at  the 
indignant  beauty. 

As  the  look  utterly  failed  to  moderate  the 
wrathful  aspect,  he  sighed  so  heavily  that  his 
lace  collar  fluttered,  and  said  in  a  piteous 
voice: 

"I  think  you  ought  to  tell  your  humble  wor- 
shiper what  we  are  to  think  of  your  abrupt 
flitting  out  of  town?" 

She  tossed  her  head  and  took  up  a  stitch  she 
had  dropped  with  a  vicious  prod  of  the  bodkin. 

"How  am  I  to  explain  to  our  set  that,  after 
seeking  you  in  the  Place  Royale.  I  find  you, 
accidentally,  at  Blois?" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  155 

"Oh,  it  is  accidental,  is  it?''  said  she,  breath 
ing  more  easily. 

"Partly  so!  I  might  as  well  seek  you  here  as 
elsewhere.  Hidden!  bless  us  and  save  us  all 
from  Creditors — still,  you  had  only  to  say  the 
word,  if  you  were  annoyed,  to  have  us  make  up 
a  purse!  Or  set  our  footmen  on  to  thrash  the 
duns!  But  what  have  you  done  with  yourself, 
these  months,  in  this  dreary  hole?" 

"On  the  contrary,  Blois  is  blithe  and  merry, 
enough  for  me!" 

"But  what  have  you  been  doing?  no  park, 
no  drives,  no  society,  for  Prince  Gaston  is  in 
town,  and  nobody  is  at  Chambord,  for  I  passed 
through  the  forest  and  there  was  not  so  much 
as  a  poacher!" 

"My  lord,  I  have  been  doing  what  I  like  to 
do,  and  I  like  to  do  what  I  please.  I  am  a  free 
woman !" 

"You,  yea!  but  how  about  us,  poor  souls, 
who  have  not  a  soul  to  call  our  own — since  you 
enslaved  us!    Look  at  your  adorers — " 

"I  came  here  not  to  see  them!"  with  a  con- 
temptuous curl  of  the  lip. 

"Morally,  look  at  them!  I  will  show  you  the 
panorama  as  the  witch  of  the  Blanchapelle 
Lane  does  on  a  screen  of  smoke — " 

Marion  started  at  the  mention,  and  honored 
the  importunate  speaker  with  a  look,  not  kind- 
ly, but  he  was  gratified  by  the  notice. 

"There  is  Prince  Gaston,  to  begin  with!"  said 
he  in  a  less  daunted  tone.  "He  has  quarrelled 
with  all  his  favorites  and  is  in  an  abominable 
humor!  Abbe  Gondi,  forgetting  his  vows,  goes 
down  into  the  squares  and  serves  as  second  to 
anv  chance-comers  who  wrangle  over  the  wine- 
cup  and  fight  out  their  dispute  on  the  muddy 
pavement!    Pressigny  has  let  his  wig  get  out  of 


156  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

curl  and  shaved  off  his  moustaches  before  the 
King  set  that  new  fashion!  The  two  Caus- 
sades — " 

"Are  they  afflicted,  too?" 

"Both!  what  would  they  be  our  two  Dro- 
mios  for,  if  not  to  be  downcast  alike  at  your 
inexplicable  absence?  When  I  return,  with 
the  news  of  your  whereabouts,  do  not  be  sur- 
prised at  a  deputation  from  the  families  of  all 
of  those  mourning  and  inconsolable  swains  to 
implore  you  to  come  back  and  make  those  fel- 
lows gay  and  endurable  again!" 

Marion  smiled  slightly. 

"How  does  Beau  villain  bear  it?" 

"Oh,  he  is  courting  every  pretty  face — but  he 
alwavs  detested  vou!" 

"Dolt!  he  is  the  only  one  who  really  cared 
for  me!  Is  the  old  President  of  the  Town  Par- 
liament— what  is  his  name? — still  sighing?" 

"Leloup?  He  has  been  superseded;  he 
moaned  and  sighed  on  the  bench!  he  wrote 
'Marion'  for  his  signature  on  acts!  ha,  ha!  He 
tendered  his  resignation,  I  believe,  that  he 
might  organise  an  expedition  in  search  of  you, 
as  more  daring  voyagers  do  for  the  Golden  In- 
dies! Meanwhile,  he  consoles  himself  by  going 
to  see  your  portrait,  daily,  that  Philippe  of 
Champagne  has  in  his  studio." 

"He  has  been  making  love  to  my  portrait  in- 
stead of  to  me,  these  two  years,"  said  Marion, 
mirthfully. 

It  was  clear  that  she  bore  Saverny  malice  no 
longer  for  having  disturbed  her  in  her  retire- 
ment. 

"All  considered,  she  has  a  good  heart," 
thought  the  marquis. 

"He  had  better  burn  you  in  effigy!"  said  he, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  157 

"for  you  are  Unkindness  itself  to  flee  from  so 
many  good  friends  and  lovers!" 

She  lowered  her  eves,  half-closed  them,  and 
it  was  in  a  serious  tone  that  she  replied,  nod- 
ding agreement: 

"It  is  precisely  the  possession  of  so  many 
friends  that  caused  my  flight.  Do  I  have  a 
moment  to  myself,  with  all  your  calls?   can  I 

«  7  * 

entertain  a  grave  thought  while  your  spark- 
ling conversation  coruscates  around  me?  I  re- 
gret that  your  brilliant  parts  in  the  end  have 
filled  me  with  regret!  So  I  hasten  into — se- 
clusion— " 

"Hem'/'  said  Saverny,  looking  round.  "I 
should  prefer  a  convent !" 

The  room  was  vast  and,  consequently,  cheer- 
less. The  furniture  had  been  handsome  in  a 
preceding  reign,  no  doubt,  but  now  was  fusty 
and  not  without  a  suspicion  of  moths.  The 
curtains  over  the  single  large  window  were 
badly  mended  and  through  the  rips  glinted  the 
vague  starlight. 

"Yes,  I  ought  to  be  in  a  convent!  there  I 
might  expiate  the  faults  of  my  career!" 

"Faults!"1  protested  the  marquis,  sitting  on 
a  chair  and  stretching  his  legs  with  all  the  rap- 
ture of  a  man  who  had  walked  through  the 
woods,  while  being  unused  to  walks  except  in 
parks  and  promenades. 

"Where  do  vou  lav  vour  finger  on  faults,  in 
vour  conduct,  whatever  thev  may  say  who  do 
not  know  vour  life,  like  vou  and  I  do?  You 
keep  an  open  house  in  Paris,  where  gentlemen 
can  meet  who  are  debarred  from  other  ground! 
If  I,  for  example,  call  on  Madame  de  Combalet, 
the  cry  arises,  because  she  is  Cardinal  Riche- 
lieu's niece,  forsooth!  that  I  am  selling  my  soul 
to  his  Scarlet  Eminence!     If  I  look  in  at  La 


158     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Weveu's,  it  is  worse  than  calling  on  the  Niece! 
for  they  swear  that  I  have  gone  over  to  Prince 
Gaston,  body  and  boots!  I  ask  pardon,  by  the 
way,  for  appearing  in  riding  boots  here,  but 
needs  must  when  Old  Nick  drives!'' 

The  lady  was  not  listening  to  his  apology. 

"You  are  right,"  said  she,  "I  were  better  in 
a  convent!" 

"I  wager  that  you  would  go  into  no  convent 
unless  the  Abbe  Gondi  were  the  visiting  priest! 
Out  on  you,  to  try  to  deceive  me!  I  am  sure 
that  a  love  affair  is  at  the  bottom  of  this 
vanishment!" 

Marion  blushed. 

"Never  since  there  was  a  church  were  such 
resplendent  eyes  hidden  under  the  black  veil! 
Impossible!  Black  eyes  and  black  veil!  an  oc- 
cultation  out  of  the  calendar!  On  the  other 
hand,  to  fall  in  love,  in  the  county  town!  To 
conclude  so  line  a  romance  with  such  a  prosaic 
epilogue!  fie!" 

"Nothing  of  the  kind!"  objected  she,  faintly, 

"Will  vou  lay  a  wager  on  it?" 

She  crossed  the  room  to  the  door,  without 
answering,  and  opening  it  a  little  she  raised 
her  voice  to  call: 

"Rose,  how  goes  the  time?" 

The  old  woman  was  heard  snarling: 

"Those  lazy  gentlefolks!  can  they  not  wait 
for  the  great  clock  of  the  castle  to  tell  them  the 
hour?" 

The  marquis  pulled  an  egg-shaped  timepiece 
out  of  a  pocket  but  mournfully  said: 

"I  forgot  to  wind  up  my  watch!  I  have  been 
so  distracted — by  your  disappearance,  on  my 
word !" 

"It  will  soon  be  twelve,  midnight!"  replied 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  159 

the  old  woman,  as  if  she  were  consulting  the 
stars. 

Marion  looked  alarmed. 

Saverny  rose,  and  whistled  a  hunting-tune. 

"That  is  courteous;  but  between  us.  frank- 
ness! you  might  as  well  say  that  my  company 
is  not  wanted." 

"I  shall  be  frank!  You  see  that  I  am  living 
most  retired.     I  receive  nobody  in  Blois,  and 

a. 

everybody  is  ignorant  of  my  dwelling." 

"I  credit  that!" 

"Besides,"  continued  she,  as  if  recalling  a 
previous  idea,  "I  dread  your  going  home  at  a 
late  hour;  for,  in  this  lonesome  ward,  the 
street-robber  may  be  lurking!  More  than  once. 
I  have  been  awakened  bv  shouts,  clash  of  arms, 
appeals  for  mercy  and  brutal  oaths!"  She 
shuddered. 

"I  do  not  care.  Set  it  down  that  I  shall  be 
robbed,"  said  Saverny  coolly. 

"Ah,  but  sometimes  a  dead  body  is  found — 
the  victim  too  strenuously  resisted!" 

"As  I  should!  well,  then,  I  should  be  mur- 
dered. Why  should  I  care  to  live,  banished 
from  vou,  Marion  the  Inimitable!" 

"But— " 

"You  are  divine,  and  I  obey  you!  but,  before 
I  say  farewell,  I  should  like  to  know  who  is 
the  favored  swain  who  shuts  us  all  out  in  the 
chilly  blast!" 

"Nonsense!" 

"But  I  will  keep  your  answer  secret!  You 
believe  us  courtiers  featherbrains,  slander-lov- 
ing, loose-tongued,  compromising  and  all  that! 
but  though  we  are  always  chattering,  we  never 
let  out  the  main  points!  If  you  will  not  con- 
fide in  me.  Harpocrates'  son  Unit  I  am!  Why?" 
he  sat  down  again,  as  if  to  make  a  night  of  it. 


160     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"The  obstinate  fellow!"  muttered  Marion. 
"He  will  not  go,  or  worse,  he  will  hang  round 
the  door  and  so  pick  a  quarrel  with — with  who- 
ever comes;  and,  then!  oh,"  she  added  aloud, 
as  if  she  had  only  been  thinking  of  the  form  of 
her  reply: 

"My  dear  Nazaire,  it  is  not  of  the  slightest 
consequence:  I  do  love  somebody,  and  I  am 
expecting  him  every  minute!" 

"That's  the  way  to  speak  with  me!"  cried 
Saverny,  rising,  agog  with  excitement  and  at 
being  the  confidant  of  the  celebrity.  "Can  I 
escort  you?  you  see  how  obliging  I  am!  Where 
are  you  to  meet?" 

"At  midnight,  go  out?" 

"Pooh,  at  Blois!"  said  the  noble  with  serene 
scorn. 

"He  comes  to  see  me  here." 

"And  soon,  did  you  intimate?" 

"On  the  stroke!" 

She  went  up  to  the  double  folding  window 
and  opened  both  portions.  The  night  was 
calm;  the  wind  had  subsided.  The  starlight 
fell  pleasantly  upon  the  Castle's  high  turrets, 
flashed  from  the  enamel  on  the  great  clock; 
traced  the  ornamentation  on  the  high  portals 
under  which  paced  the  dignitaries  of  the  Local 
Parliament,  and  showed  the  steep  streets,  de- 
serted, leading  down  to  the  town  bridge  and 
the  mills  along  the  riverside.  All  was  peaceful 
and  the  mist  was  warm  as  in  late  summer. 

"I  think  I  hear  him  coming!  No;  but  he  can- 
not be  long!" 

Saverny  sighed  portentously.  "Spite  of  the 
night-hawks?" 

"He  would  not  let  a  legion  of  robbers  detain 
him 


i» 


"An  eagle?" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  1G1 

"Are  you  satisfied?" 

"Not  altogether!"  said  be,  balancing  himself 
on  one  foot,  and  holding  the  other  from  taking 
the  step. 

She  clasped  her  hands  and,  with  them  joined, 
pushed  him  towards  the  door. 

"Do  go,  that  is  a  good  fellow!"  she  appealed. 

"What,  you  send  me  packing  and  1  am  not 
to  know  the  happy  mortal  who  displaces  me?" 

"What  will  that  teach  you!  lie  is  known  to 
me  under  the  name  of  Didier,  as  he  knows  me 
as  plain  Marie." 

The  other  burst  out  in  laughter. 

"If  this  be  true,"  said  he,  "Segrais  or  Racan 
should  have  located  Arcadia  here,  and  made 
Blois  one  great  lamb-fold!  What  does  the  wolf 
do?  bribe  the  dragon,  Rose,  or  climb  in  at  that 
conveniently  opened  window?" 

"He  may  not  like  to  face  the  lovely  Rose — 
he  may  enter  by  the  window,  luckily,  as  you  go 
out  by  the  proper  way!  go  quickly!*' 

She  stamped  her  foot,  whether  he  observed 
her  vexation  or  not. 

At  the  gesture  of  impatience,  Saverny  ceased 
to  laugh.  Nobody  could  speak  more  seriously 
than  he,  in  the  inquiry: 

"Friend  Marion,  do  you  know  if  he  be  a  good 
gentleman?" 

"I  know  nothing  of  his  family-tree!" 

"Well,  I  am  no  spoil-sport!  you  need  not  call 
Rose  to  me.  Oh,  talking  of  roses,"  said  he, 
turning  at  the  door,  where  she  had  seen  him  ar- 
rive with  gratification,  "I  was  forgetting!" 

He  took  a  book  out  of  his  pocket  and  forced 
Marion  to  accept  it. 

"  'The  Garland  of  Love,' "  she  read,  stamped 
in  gold  on  the  side. 

"Exactly.    It  is  the  talk  of  the  town— that, 


162     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

and  the  success  of  a  tragedy  called  'the  Cid,' 
a  Spanish  piece  which  traverses  traditions  of 
the  stage  as  its  hero  did  the  Moor!" 

Mechanically  fumbling  with  the  leaves,  a 
slip  of  paper  fell  out. 

"You  are  forgetting — an  order  on  the  Treas- 
urer, or  a  book-marker — "  said  she  lightly  as  he 
stooped  to  pick  it  up. 

"Gad's  my  life!"  exclaimed  he.  "It  is  my 
death-warrant!" 

Instantly  she  snatched  it  from  his  trembling 
fingers,  which  seemed  taking  up  an  asp. 

"Give  it  me!" 

"It  is  only  a  piece  of  rhyme!"  said  she,  vexed. 

"Ah,  but  what  rhyme!  Lord  o'  Mercy!" 

"Comic!  oh,"  and  mirthfully  she  read,  while 
Saverny  turned  red  and  pale  in  turns  and 
still  shifted  his  weight  from  one  to  the  other 
foot: 

"  'The  tidings  surely  you  have  heard 
How  woe's  befallen  chin  and  beard? 
Who  would  have  thought 
They  could  have  brought 

A  long  goatee  on  guileless  chin 
Up  as  a  scarlet,  Cardinal  sin? 

"'Alack!  you'll  never  more  adorn! 
You  must  from  me  be  ruthless  torn, 
In  Louis'  name! 
(Thirteenth  of  fame! 

The  number  sinister  who'd  scorn?) 
All  of  us  must  be  cleanly  shorn!' 

What  is  the  meaning  of  this  doggerel?"  said 
she,  holding  the  broadside  off  at  armslength, 
but  so  that  he  could  not  regain  it. 
"Let  me  have  it!   they  are  pursuing  the  au- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  1(J3 

thor!  The  King  is  again  enraged  with  the 
Cardinal  and  he  set  the  example  by  shaving 
his  pages,  t<»  do  away  with  the  chintuft,  which 
he  himself  wore,  but  which  had  become  the 
distinguishing  emblem  of  the  Richelieu  party." 

"Well,  is  that  all?  it  is  funny,  and  the  rhyme 
is  passable.  Who  wrote  it?  Bautru  or  Seri- 
say?" 

"I — T.  Marion,  out  of  my  own  head!  which 
is  likely  to  suffer  for  it!" 

"Why  are  you  so  frightened!  a  paltry  pas- 
quin  like  that!" 

"Oh,  but  the  lawyers  read  so  unlike  us! 
D'Argenson,  lately  appointed  head  judge  of  a 
chamber  of  justice,  says  that  allusion  to  the 
Thirteenth  being  unluckv  is  direct  libel  on  the 
King!" 

"How  silly!" 

"And  then  the  little  jest  about  the  Cardinal 
sin — that  sets  his  Eminence  on  edge  to  shut 
me  up  in  Rueil  Castle!" 

The  ancient  stronghold  of  Rueil  (Bioilus), 
was  becoming  a  splendid  abode,  through  the 
taste  of  Architect  Lemercier  and  the  artist 
Youet,  but  though  its  magnificence  should 
make  it  superior  to  any  roval  habitation  exist- 
ing,  lugubrious  stories  circulated,  particularly 
after  the  trial  of  the  Marshal  Marillac.  In  pop- 
ular belief,  which  manv  courtiers  shared  or  af- 
fected  to  share,  the  sumptuous  pleasure-house 
of  the  Prime  Minister — his  Hampton  Court  as 
far  as  he  was  a  Wolsey — hid  traps,  sliding  pan- 
els, dreadful  dungeons,  under  its  Flemish  ta- 
pestries, and  among  the  statues  glided  a  mys- 
terious executioner,  the  active  hand  of  Judge 
Laffemas,  or  of  his  colleague  Laubardemont. 
The  latter  boasted  that,  in  all  cases  of  crime, 
a  culprit  could  be  discovered. 


164     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

The  marquis  was  one  of  the  courtiers  who  be- 
lieved what  was  sinister  amid  the  gaiety,  for  he 
shuddered  as  he  mentioned  the  name. 

"Impaled  on  either  prong  of  the  fork!  my 
poor  Saverny!  but  there  go  the  chimes!  it  is 
midnight!  Be  off!"  said  she  with  a  change  of 
tone.  "If  you  hesitate,  I  will  call  the  watch 
and  give  you  up  as  the  author  of  this  atrocious 
libel  on  his  Majesty  and  his  Eminence!" 

"You  would  not  do  that,  Marion!"  said  Sa- 
verny  frantically. 

"I  would!  Begone!  Rose!"  she  called  as  she 
followed  him  out  on  the  landing.  "Show  out 
this  gentleman!" 

Saverny  stumbled  down  the  creaking  stairs, 
muttering: 

"Marion  has  fallen  in  love  with  a  boor!  she 
is  declining  in  manners!  to  threaten  a  gentle- 
man with  the  police!  Alas!  if  Laffemas  should 
have  collected  his  squad  of  alguazils!  I  hear 
steps  without!" 

The  great  clock  was  striking  and  the  church 
bells  followed  its  bells  at  a  respectful  interval 
as  Saverny  stood  once  again  in  the  lane. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  165 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE  TIMELY  INTERRUPTION. 

Marion  hastily  ran  into  her  room  and  closed 
the  door,  securing  it  with  an  inner  bolt.  She 
was  trembling  lest  Didier  should  arrive,  as  she 
had  truthfully  told  her  unexpected  visitor. 

She  went  to  the  window,  as  soon  as  she  had 
recovered  from  her  mingled  feelings. 

"I  trust  they  will  not  meet!"  she  said. 

Either  Saverny  had  been  shown  out  with  the 
utmost  expedition  or  Dame  Rose  had  prudently 
retained  him  indoors  until  the  coast  should  be 
clear;  for  the  looker-out  saw  no  one  in  the  ob- 
scure court.  In  the  mouth,  where  the  street 
passed,  there  flitted  a  shadow  or  two.  But  she 
did  not  recognise  the  forms,  and  supposed  them 
the  watch,  belated  citizens  or  even  Saverny, 
foolish  enough  to  linger,  in  spite  of  her  warn- 
ing that  so  gaudily  a  bedizened  prey  would  at- 
tract the  night-birds. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  boom  of  the  bells  had 
ceased  to  vibrate  on  the  stilly  air,  and  she  re- 
turned to  sit  down,  with  a  growing  ill  humor. 

"Late,  for  once!  but  so  soon  in  our  acquaint- 
ance!" muttered  she. 

Sinking  into  abstraction,  she  recalled  the 
events  of  their  meeting  and  their  overpowering 
affection. 

Not  sure  that  the  handsome  countenance 
shown  her  in  the  Well  of  Truth  at  the  fortune- 
teller's was  reality  or  a  painting  to  dupe  the 
patrons  of  Signora  Floretia.  Marion  returned 
home  haunted  by  the  bright  eyes,  enrapt  as 
though  they  beheld  a  saint;    the  severe  lips 


166     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

which,  however,  smiled  up  to  her;  and  the  ex- 
pression of  ecstatic  surprise. 

"It  was  a  real  face,"  she  reasoned. 

From  that  moment,  a  new  idea  took  posses- 
sion of  her  waking  thoughts  as  it  did  of  her 
dreams. 

One  early  day,  she  said  to  herself:  "This  is 
what  men  speak  of  as  Love,  and  at  which  I, 
pretending  to  be  his  priestess,  mocked  in  my 
secret  heart  and  laughed  at  aloud!  I  am  justly 
punished.  This  passion  has  become  my  new 
blood,  displacing  what  ran  in  my  veins  before, 
nay,  scorching  it  up  and  expelling  the  wretched 
ashes!  Ashes,  like  that  of  my  other  passions, 
affections,  inclinations,  caprices,  which  this 
flame  seizes  upon  as  fuel,  and  consumes  wher- 
ever I  had  concealed  them !  Oh,  may  its  flame 
grow  incessantly  and  purify  my  poor  soul!  Yes, 
I  love!  a  love  without  bounds,  and  almost  with- 
out hope!  but  it  will  outlive  me — outlive  my 
happiness,  if  I  may  speak  of  happiness,  which 
cannot  be  apart  from  this  love!" 

She  was  rich  and  she  knew  how  to  command 
spies.  But  all  her  means,  as  all  her  envoys, 
were  without  fruit. 

It  is  true  the  seekers  of  the  Truth  at  the 
bottom  of  Signora  Floretia's  well  found  Louis- 
ette  at  the  other  end  one  dav;  and  thev  were 
keen  enough  to  guess  that  Malargue,  seen  in 
her  company,  had  something  to  do  with  the 
underworkings  of  the  magical  establishment. 

But  Malargue,  however  captivating  he  might 
be  to  a  tiring-maid,  did  not  answer  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  person,  judging  by  the  head  alone, 
with  which  Mademoiselle  Delonne  had  fur- 
nished her  agents. 

On  the  other  hand,  Didier,  similarly  infatu- 
ated from  that  glimpse,  had  been  as  unlucky. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  1G? 

On  reflection,  summing  up  what  little  he  had 
heard,  he  went  to  Chalons.  But  the  name  of 
Marie  is  so  common  that  he  had  his  hands  full 
of  information  on  that  head.  But  none  were 
daughters  of  bailiffs,  and  he  had  to  conclude 
that  Floretia  had  made  a  mistake.  But  she  had 
spoken  the  truth.  Gabriel  Delorme  was  an  as- 
sistant of  a  local  court,  but,  on  the  flight  of  his 
only  child  to  Paris  to  make  her  fortune,  the 
worthy  man,  blessing  heaven  that  he  had  no 
wife  to  share  the  disgrace,  changed  his  name 
and  went  to  work  at  a  distance. 

An  incident,  which  might  have  serious  re- 
sults for  her,  having  so  far  maintained  neutral- 
ity amid  the  jars  of  the  court  parties,  gave  her 
an  excuse  to  "suffer  an  eclipse."  So  said  the 
author  of  that  "Garland  of  Love,"  rhapsodies 
inscribed  in  her  honor,  of  which  Saverny  had 
given  her  what  we  should  term  in  our  days  a 
"presentation  copy." 

It  was  intimated  to  her  by  the  familiar  for 
the  time  being  of  Prince  Gaston — who  changed 
his  bosom  friends  as  often  as  his  suits — that  he 
would  be  obliged  to  the  reigning  beauty  if  she 
would  afford  his  Highness  a  room  where  he 
could  hold  meetings,  perfectly  private,  with  his 
friends.     For  friends,  read  "conspirators." 

Gaston  was  perpetually  conspiring,  but  as  a 
King's  next  brother  is  expected  to  be  a  plotter, 
that  surprised  nobody.  But  his  reputation  was 
a  miserable  one,  for  eluding  the  consequences 
of  his  failures  by  "turning  King's  evidence,"  so 
to  say,  and  sacrificing  his  confederates,  to  pre- 
serve his  liberty. 

Marion  owed  her  long  reign  as  the  court 
beauty  to  her  having  no  adviser — no  confidant 
— so  she  had  herself  solely  to  consult.  The 
outcome  of  her  debate  with  Mademoiselle  De- 


168  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

lorme  was  that  a  little  clandestine  elopement 
with  herself,  and  residence  with  that  amiable 
creature  in  a  town  very  quiet  but  not  too  re- 
mote, would  save  her  from  fine  if  not  imprison- 
ment. The  fame  of  her  collection  of  jewels, 
she  was  well  aware,  must  have  whetted  the  ap- 
petite of  the  wives  of  legal  functionaries  and 
she  feared  that  her  caskets  would  look  bare  if, 
on  any  pretext,  they  were  seized  with  her  other 
effects. 

No  doubt  they  would  be  sealed  officially,  but 
she  had  heard  that  diamonds  and  pearls,  by 
some  mysterious  influence  known  to  the  serv- 
ants of  Themis,  ooze  through  the  court  wax. 

Hence,  without  a  word  to  anyone,  she  sent 
her  valuables  to  a  safe  place  of  hiding — pawned 
them  with  a  Jew  of  the  Palais  Koval,  to  be 

*/  7 

plain — paid  her  servants  a  quarter  ahead  which 
freed  her  of  them,  alleged  that  the  court  phy- 
sician had  recommended  her  the  waters  of 
Loches,  and  started  in  a  coach  ostensibly  for 
that  watering-place. 

But  at  the  barrier,  she  rid  herself  of  her  maid 
on  some  fair  pretence,  left  the  coach  at  the 
first  inn,  sending  it  to  her  coach-maker's  to  be 
"repaired,"  which  signified  laying  up  until 
called  for,  and  posted  circuitously  until  she 
believed  she  was  no  longer  to  be  traced,  and 
lodged  at  Blois. 

She  found  here,  at  the  hint  of  a  Sister  of 
the  Ursulines,  to  whom,  without  revealing  her- 
self, she  spoke  of  ultimate  renunciation  of  the 
world  and  retirement  into  a  nunnery,  an  old 
house,  formerly  a  rich  merchant's  home  and 
warerooms,  at  a  nominal  rent,  to  keep  the 
rats  out  of  the  still  habitable  portion.  The 
nun  also  recommended  Dame  Rose,  an  old  pen- 
sioner who  occupied  a  small  holding  in  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  169 

suburbs,  but  was  not  averse  to  earning  an  hon- 
est penny  to  provide  her  with  luxuries  in  win- 
ter. The  bishop's  housekeeper  also  gave  a 
recommendation  to  this  pearl  of  housekeepers, 
and  Marion,  totally  unaware  of  this  link  of 
communication  with  Laffemas,  her  child  or 
grandchild  as  the  case  may  prove,  accepted  the 
attendant  as  she  had  the  refuge,  as  a  windfall. 

As  she  had  been  more  enwrapped  in  trying 
to  conceal  her  incognito,  when  visiting  the 
necromancer  of  the  Blanchapelle  Lane,  than 
in  studying  her  features,  she  failed  to  recog- 
nise, now  that  she  had  doffed  the  famous  mask 
of  which  Louisette  had  launched  into  praise, 
what  Parisian  nine  days'  wonder  she  had  at 
her  elbow. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  cunning  old 
hag  uttered  not  a  syllable  to  show  that  they 
had  met  before;  to  know7  and  not  to  reveal  is 
power,  if  one  waits  long  enough  to  utilise  it. 

Siuce  Floretia  had  not  been  informed  of  the 
change  of  demons  in  her  cellar,  she  could  not 
recognise  in  Didier,  the  young  man  w7ho  had 
given  Marion  the  greatest  emotion  she  ever  ex- 
perienced. 

On  this  side,  therefore,  the  fugitive  had  be- 
lieved herself  more  than  merely  safe — she  con- 
sidered her  fortune  reviving.  Truth  to  say, 
the  glamour  of  love  blinded  her  to  all  but  the 
only  companion  of  her  solitude. 

''How  is  it  that  this  nudel — this  pancake  of 
a  fop.  as  Graf  von  Eisenstein  calls  him,"  mused 
she,  "this  Saverny  has  discovered  me?" 

She  believed  that  Rose  had  betrayed  her, 
without  knowing  her  identity  with  the  fair 
fugitive  from  Paris.  Saverny,  a  profligate, 
had  heard  of  the  good-looking  ward  of 
the  old  dame,  and  had  bribed  her  to  let  him 


170  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

have  a  peep  at  her.  His  surprise  was  not  act- 
ing, and  it  was  probable  that  he  had  no  an- 
ticipation of  meeting  his  former  acquaintance. 

"At  all  events,  after  this  next  interview  with 
Didier,"  she  meditated,  "I  must  change  my 
lodgings  and  dismiss  this  hag!  She  has  a 
treacherous  look!  Besides,  Saverny  and  his 
kind  are  great  geese — they  are  gregarious.  I 
should  have  them  all  alight  on  my  porch-roof." 

Didier  had  returned  empty-handed  to  Blois. 

He  had  been  found  by  the  sexton  of  St. 
Marc's  Church,  on  the  steps,  one  morning.  For 
precaution,  not  a  scrap  of  linen  was  on  the 
babe.  The  man  was  going  to  transfer  the  piti- 
able creature  to  the  box  of  the  Bons-Enfants, 
when  a  woman  of  the  lower  class,  passing  to 
market,  had  compassion  and  swathed  the  nude 
being  in  the  flannel  with  which  she  had  in- 
tended to  wrap  a  sitting  of  eggs. 

This  woman  nursed  Didier,  brought  him  up, 
and  when  she  died,  which  was  in  his  arms, 
proved  that  she  regarded  him  as  her  son  by 
leaving  him  her  all.  It  was  a  goodly  sum  of 
money  and  the  deed  to  some  property  at  the 
North  Gate.  Required  for  defensive  purposes 
during  a  panic,  a  threatened  invasion  of  the 
Spaniards  to  avenge  some  slight  to  Anna  of 
Austria,  this  piece  of  land  was  bought  at  a 
good  price.  Didier  found  himself  master  of  a 
thousand  livres  a  year,  as  he  invested  it,  on 
which  he  existed. 

His  life  was  bitter  and  miserable  from  his 
loneliness.  He  traveled  through  France,  feel- 
ing too  proud  to  enlist  as  a  soldier,  and  unable 
from  the  absence  of  proofs  of  birth  to  buy  a 
commission  in  the  army. 

A  youth  so  unfortunate  was  inevitably  a 
misanthrope.      He  hated  the  men  above  him, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  171 

whose  un worthiness  he  perceived;  he  despised 
those  below  them,  and  below  himself,  seeing 
also  their  baseness. 

"In  France,  as  constituted,  there  are  eagles, 
hawks  and  owls.  The  owls  are  on  the  Bench: 
the  eagles  subjugate  the  hawks  and  make  them 
fetch  the  prey." 

To  his  clouded  mind,  human  nature  was  a 
tarnished  mirror,  reflecting  merely  pride,  mis- 
ery and  travail.  It  seemed  to  him  that  what- 
ever he  came  into  contact  with  tore  him,  and 
the  wound  smarted;  the  world  was  bad  enough, 
but  man  was  worse! 

He  returned  to  Blois,  not  from  any  prefer- 
ence, but  because  he  had  fancied  he  should  like 
to  be  buried  near  the  grave  of  the  only  person 
who  had  been  a  true  friend  to  him. 

He  had  gone  away  a  youth;  now  he  was  a 
young  man,  but  appeared  aged.  He  was  living 
there,  impoverished,  for  a  gentleman;  gloomy 
and  isolated,  when  came  the  thought  of  seeing 
Paris  for  the  last  time  and  perchance  termin- 
ating his  existence  after  a  round  of  its  pleas- 
ures, during  which  he  should  squander  all  his 
year's  income. 

It  was  then  he  was  led  into  the  house  of  the 
Blanchapelle  Alley  Enchantress,  and  saw  Mar- 
ion Delorme,  who  had  called  in  disguise.  She 
was  too  well  known  and  too  rarely  beautiful 
for  any  one  but  a  rustic  like  Didier  not  to 
recognise  her,  however. 

He  returned  to  Blois  again,  afraid  that  he 
had  fallen  in  love  and  must  continue  to  live, 
though  more  wretched  than  before;  then  he 
had  sought  for  her  at  Chalons  Despairing, 
he  was  in  his  supposedly  natal  town  for  what 
he  believed  the  last  time;  he  went  to  deposit 
flowers  on  the  grave  of  his  foster-mother,  in 


172     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  old  burial-ground  on  the  height  back  of 
the  town. 

Fate  had  not  forgotten  him.  It  urged  Mar- 
ion, tired  in  a  few  days  of  her  retirement,  to 
make  a  tour  of  Blois;  she  had  seen  all  that  she 
dared  look  at,  for  in  public  she  might  be  rec- 
ognised. The  cemetery  was  one  of  the  ortho- 
dox sights;  she  repaired  there,  a  resort  of  the 
very  light-minded  or  the  gravest,  which  she 
had  heretofore  shunned. 

But  love  had  filled  her  with  melancholy  and 
a  desire  to  be  utterly  alone. 

Love  is  a  shallow,  reckless  boy,  who  likes 
to  point  his  darts  at  the  Skeleton,  and  since 
he  is  immortal,  mock  at  cypress  and  yew. 

At  the  turning  of  a  walk,  under  a  clump  of 
weeping  willows,  she  and  Didier  met  as  he 
rose  from  his  devotions  at  a  humble  mound. 

Her  eyes  were  so  tender  and  her  speech  of 
sympathy  so  sweet,  that  he  ventured  to  speak 
to  her  at  length — to  tell  his  story  by  the  rest- 
ing-place of  the  only  creature  who  had  thrown 
a  smile  upon  his  tearful  life. 

Marion  thought  the  chance  a  strange  one,  for 
her  wildest  flight  had  never  pictured  their 
next  meeting  to  be  in  a  churchyard. 

She  could  not,  on  this  ground,  treat  this 
passion,  betrayed  by  the  naive  young  man,  as 
in  the  vein  of  the  hundred  love-addresses  week- 
ly offered  her.  His  agitation  wras  genuine;  she 
marvelled  to  see  a  vigorous,  energetic  young 
man  wavering  and  irresolute;  and  as  they  saun- 
tered down  by  the  Loire,  amid  the  beating  of 
the  clothes  on  the  stones  by  the  washerwo- 
man's paddles  and  the  click-clack  of  the  grist 
mills,  she  listened  without  shrinking  to  his 
offer  of  his  heart  and  his  life. 

"Is  there  anything  for  which  you  yearn,  that 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  173 

I  can  hell)  you  toward?"  said  be  with  a  sin- 
cerity almost  appalling  to  one  who  reckoned  a 
Saverny  earnest  and  a  Prince  Gaston  steady. 
"Is  there  a  man  or  an  object  in  your  way,  to 
be  removed?  Have  you  fixed  your  wish  on 
something  for  which  a  man  must  die?  I  would 
die  for  it,  without  a  murmur,  and  believe  my 
blood  was  well  paid  for  by  one  of  your  smiles!" 

All  his  straightforward  speech  was  antago- 
nistic to  the  set  phrases  of  love-making  raging 
in  the  city;  the  stereotyped  words,  "star,"  "bra- 
zier of  affection,"  "fires  of  the  heart,"  and  the 
like,  taken  from  the  romances  of  chivalry.  It 
was  novel,  but  she  loved  him  the  more  for  the 
newness;  Marion  was  a  woman  who  adored 
singularity. 

But  she  was  unable  so  soon  to  answer  to 
him  with  the  same  gravity. 

He  rebuked  her  for  her  frivolity  and  for 
playing  with  a  word  of  such  vast  and  weighty 
signification  as  "Love."  He  explained  to  her 
that  the  love  he  meant,  was  that  which  be- 
comes the  additional  essence  in  the  life's  blood, 
the  third  flow  of  corpuscles,  purifying  both  the 
red  and  the  white,  and  giving  a  new  growth  to 
the  soul. 

He  told  her  how  that  glimpse  of  her,  through 
the  magician's  trap,  had  impregnated  him  with 
ardent  love.  His  clouded  life  was  immediately 
gilded  as  if  a  new  sunlight  burst  out  beside 
the  normal  one.  All  changed  to  him  and  the 
misanthrope  could  love  all  mankind — if  she 
were  also  of  them.  He  doubted  that,  for  she 
appeared  an  unknown  being  of  a  heavenly  spe- 
cies. His  rebellious  heart  had  long  chafed 
against  his  life,  but  now  the  burden  became  a 
buoy — he  felt  lifted  up  so  that  one  day  he 
might  attain  her  level. 


174     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Alone,  wandering,  oppressed,  he  had  strug- 
gled and  suffered  with  all  sentiments — but  one, 
and  that  one,  like  the  magician's  serpentine- 
rod,  swallowed  them  all — it  was  Love. 

She  pitied  him,  as  he  poured  out  his  sad 
revelation. 

What  diverse  careers!  She,  born  a  peasant, 
had  become  a  queen,  more  than  the  Queen  reg- 
nant, over  Parisian  society!  This  man  must 
have  come  of  noble,  perhaps  exalted  origin,  to 
judge  by  the  altitude  of  his  feelings,  and  he 
was  compelled  to  vegetate  in  a  third-rate  and 
decaying  city.  The  bar  sinister,  in  his  inabil- 
ity to  indicate  his  parents,  prevented  him  rising 
in  the  Church,  the  Army  or  the  Law. 

When  she  acknowledged  that  she  shared  his 
great  passion,  he  drew  away,  awed.  He  was 
afraid  that  he  was  deceived — that  she  deceived 
herself  in  thinking  that  she  could  love  him  to 
the  same  degree.  She  asserted  that  her  love 
was  greater — for  she  knew,  and  dared  not  avow 
— how  great  was  her  sacrifice  if  she  gave  up 
all  for  him — fortune  for  comparative  poverty; 
fame,  of  a  kind,  for  obscurity;  the  most  bril- 
liant and  liveliest  society  for  the  paucity  of  a 
country  town. 

They  met  every  day,  usually  in  the  outskirts, 
where  still  trees  had  been  spared,  and  there 
were  those  openings  in  narrow  groves  which 
the  simple  folk  call  "lovers'  walks." 

Each  day  their  love  grew.  Their  affection 
might  have  dowered  a  world  where  love  was 
unknown.  It  was  supreme  joy — delight  in  the 
extreme  which  he  felt  when  he  knelt  at  her 
feet,  and  they  saw  the  sun  go  down  on  another 
day  which  was  all  ecstasy. 

But,  although  he  could  not  doubt  his  happi- 
ness, he  doubted  her  love.     Often  he  had  pro- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  175 

posed  the  proof  of  its  extent,  marriage,  and 
always  she  had  deferred  a  decision.  He  at- 
tributed it  to  his  position,  an  orphan's,  with- 
out parontai;"  revealed,  without  money  and 
without  a  palpable  future. 

It  was,  therefore,  unheard-of  audacity — 
strange  importunity,  for  him  to  look  up  to  one 
he  held  to  be  an  angel  of  light  in  the  prime 
of  virtue  and  beauty.  It  seemed  to  him  that, 
when  she  was  at  her  window,  the  passers-by 
ought  to  go  down  on  their  knees  to  her  as  to 
a  Madonna  in  the  shrine  at  the  corner. 

Often  had  he  asked  himself,  on  returning 
home  from  seeing  her:  "Who  am  I,  crawler 
among  the  worms,  to  disturb  this  silvery  sheet 
of  water,  and  cull  the  lily!  Why  should  my 
vulgar  breath  tarnish  the  azure  of  so  serene  a 
spirit?"  Her  innocence  sanctified  her  in  his 
ignorant  eyes,  for  he  had  believed  her  tale 
that  she  was  in  Paris  for  the  first  time,  and 
for  a  day  only,  when  he  saw  her.  She  candidly 
confided  in  his  loyalty  and  he  doubted  that  he 
had  the  right  to  accept  her  love;  the  act  would 
mingle  his  gloom — his  night-like  life  with  her 
noonday  brightness. 

Marion  had  said  that  she  was  alone;  without 
brothers,  parents  or  relatives  to  interfere  with 
her  movements.  She  had  allowed  him  to  be 
her  supporter,  so  to  say — why  not  legalise  this 
acquaintance? 

While  she  deplored  her  being  unworthy  of 
him,  lowly  though  he  was,  he  attributed  her 
shrinking  from  a  definite  answer  to  his  own 
sorrows,  impatiently-borne  wrongs,  and  aban- 
doned state. 

On  the  night  when  Saverny,  escaping  from 
the  consequences  of  his  first  essay  in  verse, 
broke  in  upon  the  solitude  of  the  self-exiled 


176  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

beautv,  Didier  had  determined  to  come  to  an 
end  with  the  distressing  situation. 

He  dressed  himself  for  a  journey — it  was 
over  the  stream  which  poets  still  styled  Lethe, 
or  the  Styx.  In  black  from  head  to  foot,  he 
was  a  tolerably  forbidding  figure  in  the  old 
streets  at  the  hour  when  midnight  would 
strike.  If  any  robbers  were  abroad,  they  re- 
frained from  challenging  the  right  to  be  afoot 
of  one  who  might  be  a  spectre  from  among  the 
old  knights  who  couched  lances  with  Dugues- 
clin  and  tried  to  set  Henry  of  Transtamara  on 
the  throne  of  Pedro  the  Cruel. 

If  Old  Street  had  rarely  a  passenger  at  his 
hour  for  the  trysts,  the  lane  up  which  was  Mar- 
ion's house  yet  more  seldom  had  its  shadows 
among  which  glided  this  lover,  like  a  shade 
himself,  protected  by  the  god  of  lovers  and 
that  aroma  of  poverty  which  shields  its  hap- 
less tribe  from  the  footpad  and  highwayman. 

What  was  his  amaze,  therefore,  to  hear  two 
voices  in  that  room  where  none  but  Marion's 
and  his  had  shaped  the  monotonous  dialogues 
of  the  enamored! 

His  pale  cheek  reddened  and  he  gripped  his 
sword,  that  good  old  blade  with  which  he  had 
vanquished  Malargue,  and  which  had  been 
fitted  to  an  ebony  handle  by  a  local  sword- 
smith,  from  its  suiting  his  hand.  He  paused 
as  if  petrified  at  the  foot  of  the  dank  wall, 
under  the  balcony  which  formed  his  stairway 
to  paradise. 

But  already  the  two  voices,  if  there  were  two, 
were  hushed,  and  one  only  arose. 

To  beguile  her  impatience,  Marion  had  taken 
up  the  book  of  verses  in  her  praise,  that  "Gar- 
land'" which  Saverny  had  left,  as  a  wasp  leaves 
its  sting,  perhaps  with  the  hope  that  it  would 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  177 

rekindle  a  desire  to  rule  the  gayer  part  of  the 
capital. 

Marion  spoke  prose  as  few  women  of  her 
lime  could  do;  she  read  poetry  so  that  it  be- 
came  music! 

Didier,  without  catching  the  sense  of  the 
words,  at  this  distance,  was  enthralled  by  the 
bare  melody.  On  its  ceasing,  for  Marion  laid 
down  the  book  to  sigh,  like  a  queen  in  exile 
recalling  her  coronation-day,  he  seized  the  iron 
lattice- work,  and  with  the  agility  of  a  chamois- 
hunter,  climbed  up  to  the  open  casement,  at 
which  he  leaped  in. 

Marion  rose.     She  was  alone. 

"I  entered  abruptly,"  stammered  he,  regret- 
ting his  haste;  "but  I  thought — was  there  not 
another  with  you?" 

Had  he  heard  Saverny?  Was  he  beginning 
to  play  the  spy  upon  her? 

She  replied,  a  little  as  if  offended: 

"If  you  heard  another  voice,  it  was  the 
housekeeper's — " 

"Dame  Rose?"  said  Didier,  doubtingly. 

"Who  but  Dame  Rose?  Her  voice  is  like  an 
old  man's,  is  it  not?  But  never  mind  how  you 
came — like  a  shot  from  a  cannon,"  and  she 
forced  a  laugh.     "Pray,  be  seated — " 

lie  laid  his  sword  and  short  cloak  on  a  chair 
indicated  for  him,  and  drew  a  stool  to  her  feet, 
where  he  sat. 

For  several  minutes  he  contemplated  her, 
without  scarcely  drawing  breath:  it  was  the 
idolatrv  of  an  Oriental. 

"I  have  come  to  ask  you,  for  the  last  time, 
if  still  you  hesitate  to  give  me  that  reply  on 
my  future — would  I  could  say.  our  futu:  — 
and  why  do  you  hesitate?     Let  us  be  wed!" 

She  hid  her  face  in  her  hands;  hands  which 


178  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

were  wont  to  be  so  covered  with  jewels  that, 
in  their  nakedness  of  late,  they  seemed  light 
to  her. 

"I  wished  you  to  think  all  this  over:  how  we 
are  both  cast-offs  from  society,  our  country,  the 
world!  Let  us  be  the  world  to  ourselves!  Let 
us  go  somewhere  to  make  a  home,  under  any 
sky — for  where  you  are  that  will  be  heaven, 
not  only  above  me  but  all  around!  Choose 
a  spot!  There  we  will  dwell,  letting  the  blind, 
dull  world  rest  ignorant  of  true  happiness, 
one  that  kings  might  envy!" 

"Ah,  this  would  be  heaven!"  murmured  she. 

"Realise  it!  The  way  to  it  is  through  the 
church!" 

He  had  risen  and  opened  his  arms,  counting 
on  her  acquiescence,  but  the  unhappy  woman 
shuddered  and  drew  away. 

"I  cannot  marry!     Never!"  faltered  she. 

Escaping  his  advancing  arms,  she  fell  back, 
fainting,  in  her  chair. 

Didier  instantly  passed  from  warmth  to  cold- 
ness. 

"I  grant,"  said  he,  "that  the  offer  is  far  from 
generous  on  my  part!  But  this  is  enough! 
Never  more  will  I  speak  on  the  subject!  Let 
us  say  farewell!" 

"Cursed  be  the  day  when  I  won  his  affec- 
tion!" she  murmured,  and  burst  into  tears. 

He  turned  round  from  dashing  himself  out 
of  the  window,  careless  how  Mother  Earth  re- 
ceived him;  at  her  outburst,  he  turned. 

"You  are  tearing  my  heart,  Didier,"  gasped 
she,  making  an  effort  which  was  a  triumph  to 
her  self-command,  to  speak  in  a  firm  voice,  "but 
I  will  make  it  clear  to  you — " 

"Madam,"  said  he  with  the  same  icy  tone, 
"after  this  decision,  I  will  read  nothing  but 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  179 

my  book  of  prayers.  Were  you  reading  in  your 
breviary  when   1  arrived?" 

She  continued  to  sob,  breaking  down  on  the 
verge  of  some  monstrous  falsehood  which 
might  bridge  over  this  breach. 

The  book  had  fallen  on  the  floor,  and  he  trod 
upon  it.     He  took  it  up. 

"Ha!  the  'Garland  of  Love!'  'Dedicated  to 
Marion  Delorme!' "  he  repeated,  the  first  time 
without  understanding,  so  far  were  the  pres- 
ent circumstances  removed  from  what  he 
learnt  in  Paris  in  his  short  stay.  "The  beauty 
of  the  court — the  idol  of  the  town!"  said  he 
bitterly,  like  one  who,  loving  one  woman, 
wishes  all  to  be  of  her  likeness.  "Out  on  the 
vile  disgrace  to  her  sex!"  he  cried,  hurling  the 
volume  out  of  the  window,  "what  manner  of 
man  is  this  that  prostitutes  his  pen  to  praise 
that  most  impure  of  creatures?" 

Marion  started  up  at  the  sentence;  her  cheeks 
suddenly  glowed  so  that  the  tears  dried  upon 
them  before  they  had  half  coursed  down.  She 
could  not  have  been  more  flaming  red  had  the 
executioner  applied  the  burning  fleur-de-lis  to 
brand  her. 

Her  eyes  flashed  like  carbuncles,  but  sud- 
denly she  laid  her  hand  on  her  heart,  checked 
her  rage  as  it  almost  foamed  over,  and  drooped 
in  all  her  figure,  trembling  like  an  aspen. 

So  does  the  caged  panther  change  its  mood 
when,  about  to  leap  at  an  intruder  upon  its 
captivity,  it  recognises  it  is  the  trainer. 

"How  come  you — you,  of  all  women,  to  have 
such  books  in  your  possession?  What  brought 
it  here — " 

"Pure  chance,  believe  me!"  said  Marion. 

"Would  you  like  to  know  who  Marion  De- 
lorme  is?"  continued  Didier,  with  that  sombre 


180     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

fire  not  long  generated  in  France,  and,  then, 
making  that  Huguenot  party  which  carried 
Henry  of  Navarre  to  the  throne  in  the  teeth 
of  the  dominant  factions.  "You  have  a  chaste 
eye" — she  lowered  hers  to  the  floor.  "You 
have  a  gentle  forehead — " 

How  it  tingled  now! 

"Marion  Delorme  is  a  woman  of  faultless 
frame  and  deformed  heart!  A  Circe  who 
makes  beasts  of  men;  she  has  a  den  in  Paris 
to  which  all  comers  are  welcome;  and  in  these 
days  of  mixed  politics,  when  every  man  is  hos- 
tile to  his  brother,  she  keeps  her  footing  by 
betraying  all  her  guests  to  the  power  that  is 
in  the  ascendancv.  To-dav,  Marion  is  for  the 
Cardinal,  as  yesterday  she  was  for  the  King! 
To-morrow  she  will  uphold  Prince  Gaston,  who, 
it  is  said,  would  send  his  crowned  brother  into 
a  monastery  that  he  should  steal  the  sceptre! 
And  the  next  day,  Marion  would  harbor  the 
conspirators  plotting  to  overthrow  this  king  of 
a  day!  A  Phryne  who  ensnares  men  in  a 
Daedalus,  where  the  lieutenant-criminal  can 
lay  his  hand  on  them,  for  she  gives  him  the 
clue  that  she  may  dwell  in  impunity!  Her  pre- 
tended loves  are  a  shame  to  them  on  whom 
they  alight  and  a  horror  to  the  community !" 

Marion  clasped  her  hands  over  her  head  as 
though  she  expected  a  thunderbolt,  or  as  if 
these  words  had  the  same  effect. 

Didier  looked  round  suspiciously,  when,  in 
the  usually  tranquil  court  uprose  a  clash  of 
swords,  a  tramp  of  feet,  and  outcries: 

"Help!  thieves!  help!  murder!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  181 


CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  RE-EXCOUNTER. 

The  censor  turned,  astonished  at  this  uproar 
in  the  quietude  of  the  most  quiet  of  cities. 

The  calls  for  help  continued,  only  they  be- 
came the  more  heart-rending;  a  man  had  been 
wounded  who  uttered  such  appeals,  between 
the  first  series  and  the  present,  and  feared 
that  he  would  be  overpowered. 

Didier  snatched  up  his  sword  from  the  chair 
and  ran  to  the  window.  He  had  thrown  one 
leg  over  the  iron  balustrade  when  Marion  has- 
tened to  him  and  laid  her  hand  on  his  arm. 

Both  looked  down,  and  saw  in  the  darkness, 
for  the  lamp  was  still  unlighted  at  the  head 
of  the  court,  a  furious  whirlwind,  so  to  say, 
spinning  men  round  a  central  one,  the  only 
light  on  the  scene  being  that  from  countless 
sparks,  struck  out  by  swordblades  in  rapid  con- 
tact. 

"It's  a  single  man  whom  a  score  are  murder- 
ing," said  Didier,  getting  his  other  foot  over  the 
rail  and  preparing  to  leap  down.  But  Marion 
caught  him  by  the  cloak  and  drawing  it  tight 
around  his  neck,  he  had  to  wait  until  released 
or  he  disentangled  himself.  He  was  stran- 
gling, so  energetic  was  her  hold. 

"Didier,  if  vou  love  me,  do  not  leave  me! 
They  will  kill  you!     Stay,  oh,  stay!" 

"They  shall  not  slay  that  poor,  brave  fel- 
low first!''  replied  Didier.  snapping  the  clasp 


182  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

of  his  mantle,  which  left  it  in  her  hands,  and 
he  dropped  to  the  muddy,  rounded  stones. 

The  assailed  man  had  reached  the  doorway, 
where  he  placed  his  back  against  the  protrud- 
ing pillar  and  kept  his  sword  in  play,  like 
one  who  esteemed  his  purse  and  his  blood  as 
precious. 

It  was  Saverny,  and  these  were  footpads. 

When  the  marquis  was  consigned  to  the 
hands  of  Dame  Rose,  it  was  in  good  time  to 
prevent  him  and  the  lady  of  the  house  being 
interrupted  in  their  colloquy  by  Didier.  The 
latter  had,  in  truth,  heard  their  parting  words 
without  distinguishing  them  or  the  voices. 

The  old  woman  was  so  cunning  as  not  to  let 
him  out  until  Didier,  after  hesitating,  had 
mounted  into  the  room.  Then,  remembering 
the  nobleman's  present  and  hoping  it  would 
not  be  the  last,  she  enjoined  him  to  get  away 
quietly  and  to  avoid  the  dishonest  gentry  who 
laughed  at  the  Captain  of  the  Ward  and 
Watch. 

"They  are  noted,"  she  whispered.  "They  are 
legitimate  descendants  of  the  Scorchers  and 
Flayers  whose  deeds  were  a  countryside  tale 
when  I  was  a  girl — they  will  not  be  content 
with  your  pretty  feathers,  but  leave  you  no 
hide  to  be  buried  in!" 

Saverny  was  too  curious  to  learn  who  had 
supplanted  the  bevy  of  Marion's  admirers,  to 
be  obedient  to  this  counsel.  Ill  fell  him  to 
linger  in  the  court,  trying,  by  mounting  a  horse- 
block on  the  other  side,  to  peer  within  the 
apartment.  The  casement  remained  open,  but 
just  as  he  was  expecting  to  catch  a  sight  of 
Didier's  countenance,  so  far  turned  from  him 
and  to  Marion,  the    mouth    of  the    lane  was 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  183 

blocked  up.  Escape  was  now  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. 

He  looked  down  from  his  perch  and  per- 
ceived dimly — but  a  glance  sufficed  to  distin- 
guish the  nefarious  haunters  of  Old  Blois — 
half-a-dozen  fellows,  whose  apparel  was  tat- 
tered and  whose  visages  reeked  of  the  wine- 
shop and  bagnio. 

Not  yet  descrying  him,  although  he  was 
prominently  placed,  for  he  was  out  of  the  ray 
from  the  lamp  in  the  room  overhead,  the  party 
stopped  in  the  lane  mouth,  as  we  have  said. 

They  were  commanded  by  two  men,  who  mar- 
shalled their  corps  so  as  to  cut  off  the  issue. 

"We  are  too  late  again,  Malargue,"  said  the 
lieutenant,  vexedly.  "You  would  stop  at  the 
Brazen  Lion  to  have  another  stoup  and  there 
he  is,  housed,  out  of  our  reach!" 

"Diego,  you  are  wrong!  He  has  not  yet  gone 
up  over  the  balcony — there  he  is,  getting  down 
from  that  stone!" 

All  eyes  turned  to  the  luckless  marquis, 
who  descended  from  his  compromising  emi- 
nence too  late  to  escape, 

"Nay,  it  is  not  he,"  replied  the  man  called 
Diego,  and  in  whom  we  may  recognise  the 
Matamore  of  the  ambulatory  dramatic  corps, 
with  whom  Didier's  second  had  exchanged 
swordstrokes  to  his  disadvantage,  for  he 
limped  from  the  wound. 

"Assuredly  not!  You  are  correct!  The  man 
we  pursued  has  always  been  dressed  in  sable 
like  a  mute  mourner  at  a  funeral  and  this 
popinjay  is  tricked  out  as  for  a  wedding!  So 
much  the  better!  He  will  be  more  worth  the 
stripping!  Draw,  and  upon  him!  We  may 
catch  the  other,  too!" 

Thus  it  was  that  Saverny  found  himself  the 


184     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

centre  of  a  storming-party  which  drove  him, 
after  inflicting  at  least  one  wound  of  import- 
ance, back  to  the  doorway  from  which  he  had 
so  recently  emerged  and  which  threatened  to 
become  a  gateway  to  the  Shades. 

But,  at  this  juncture,  as  though  the  sky 
had  emitted  a  moonman,  Didier  fell  into  the 
midst  of  the  bristling  blades;  converted  the 
semi-circle  into  a  rectangle  by  knocking  three 
or  four  of  them  back,  in  their  holder's  para- 
lysed hands,  and  stationed  himself  beside  the 
marquis. 

The  latter  took  advantage  of  the  respite  to 
draw  a  breath  at  comparative  ease  and  to  stuff 
his  lace  collar  into  his  principal  wound,  on 
the  sword-arm  shoulder. 

"Stop!  back,  you  poltroons!"  said  Didier. 
Then,  to  the  attacked  one,  he  added:  "Let  us 
hold  firmly  and  they  will  be  glad  to  retire!  Let 
us  upon  them!    Away,  scum!" 

But  the  robbers  stood  their  ground,  and  two 
or  three  who  were  keeping  the  entrance,  has- 
tened to  their  companions'  aid. 

The  combat  looked  terribly  unfair  to  Marion, 
who  overcame  her  fear  in  her  anxiety  about 
her  lover.  She  rushed  to  the  balcony,  leaning 
over  and  still  farther  holding  out  the  lamp.  It 
threw  a  flickering  radiance  over  the  field. 

On  the  instant,  a  double  outcry  of  recogni- 
tion broke  from  the  two  leaders  of  the  ruffians 
and  the  intervener  on  behalf  of  the  libeller  of 
the  royal  barber. 

"Captain  Malargue,  and  his  Thespian  sec- 
ond!" exclaimed  Didier. 

"The  young  Cardinalist  of  the  Pont  Neuf!" 
cried  the  two  associates.  "Well,  you  have  not 
your  black  abbe  and  your  Grey  Robe  here  to 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  185 

succor  vou!  This  time,  von  and  your  fop  shall 
die!" 

The  action  was  redoubled  in  violence,  for  the 
villains  feared  that  the  watch  might  be  at- 
tracted,  and  they  would  be  captured  to  a  man 
in  this  court,  without  an  outlet  save  the  one 
on  the  main  street. 

Three  thrust  against  the  marquis,  already 
fatigued  and  weakened  a  little  by  loss  of  blood; 
four  or  five,  including  the  captains,  upon  his 
defender,  while  the  others,  while  keeping  a 
lookout  for  the  chance  enemv  in  Old  Street, 
struck  in  at  opportunities. 

Marion  could  bear  no  more;  from  her  over- 
head position,  the  play  of  the  swords  looked 
more  evilly  ominous  than  perhaps  they  were  to 
the  fate  of  her  beloved;  suddenly,  seeing  his 
breast  about  to  become  the  sheath  of  Malar- 
gue's  blade,  she  uttered  a  piercing  scream, 
which  Dame  Rose  echoed  by  sympathy  from 
the  wicket  in  the  door,  wrhere  she  inspected  the 
affray.  At  the  same  moment,  she  half  threw, 
half  let  drop  the  lamp  from  her  trembling  hand. 

It  was  a  heavy  bronze  vessel  which  might 
contain  a  pint  of  oil.  This  new  kind  of  burn- 
ing-shell alighted  on  the  head  of  the  Mata- 
mort,  felling  him,  spreading  the  oil,  which 
ignited,  over  all  his  ragged  person,  and  caused 
a  panic  in  the  assailants. 

Malargue  was  carried  away  by  the  rush,  per- 
haps without  having  made  too  much  resist- 
ance, for  this  second  meeting  with  Didier's 
rapier  had  left  a  bad  impression  upon  him 
again. 

In  his  haste,  he  tripped  on  the  dragging  rope 
of  the  street  lantern  at  the  alloy  mouth,  and 
his  precipitation  being  irresistible,  he  was 
hurled  head  foremost  against  the  iron  grate 


186     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

of  the  cellar  window  nearest.  The  iron  was 
rusty  and  loose;  this  shock  disengaged  it  from 
its  pins  and  sockets  and  he  disappeared,  like 
Harlequin,  through  a  hole  in  The  wall. 

The  rest  of  his  miscreants  continued  their 
flight. 

Didier  surveyed  the  scene  coolly  and  re- 
marked to  the  noble,  who  could  now  bandage 
his  cut  in  leisure: 

"You  are  well  out  of  the  nick,  sir!  You  may 
go  your  way,  for  those  rogues  will  not  stop 
running  this  side  of  the  bridge!" 

He  had  not  noticed  the  downfall  of  Malar- 
gue,  who,  on  his  part,  from  prudence  or  other 
cause,  did  not  make  the  slightest  sound  in  his 
retreat. 

Saverny  looked  up  at  this  deliverer,  who 
was  coolly  returning  into  the  room  from  which 
he  had  so  providentially  descended,  as  if  to 
risk  life  for  a  stranger  were  an  everyday  oc- 
currence and  required  no  testimony  of  grati- 
tude. 

"Hold,  my  friend,"  said  he,  "I  cannot  in  de- 
cency go  away  without  shaking  the  hand  that 
so  handsomely  freed  me  of  those  incubi!  And 
I  must  formally  thank  you,  if  you  do  not  ob- 
ject!" 

"Saverny!  It  is  the  inevitable  Saverny," 
muttered  Marion,  without  daring  to  look  over 
the  balcony,  which,  however,  she  might  have 
done,  in  the  dark. 

Didier  leaned  over  the  rail,  with  ill  humor, 
and  replied: 

"Make  haste,  sir,  and  get  you  home!  I  can 
dispense  with  your  thanks!     We  are  quits!" 

"But,  in  the  sacred  name  of  gratitude,  I 
am  determined  to  thank  you,  and  in  full,  set 
terms!"  retorted  the  young  nobleman,  proceed- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  187 

ing  to  scale  the  wall.  "A  pretty  graduate  with 
all  the  honors  would  I  be  of  the  Henry  the 
Fourth  College  of  Gentlemen-at-arms  to  fore- 
go such  an  opening  for  exhibition  of  my  train- 
ing in  the  language  of  courtesy!"  Whereupon, 
remembering  that  his  arm  was  sorely  cut,  he 
continued  to  scale  the  balcony  with  remarkable 
grace  and  quickness. 

Marion  had  run  to  the  door,  where  Dame 
Rose,  trembling,  held  out  to  her  another  lamp. 

She  seized  it. 

"Get  to  bed,"  said  she  in  a  peremptory  tone 
never  heard  by  any  servant  of  hers  before. 

And  she  closed  the  door  in  the  woman's  face. 

When  she  turned,  Saverny  was  also  in  the 
room,  with  his  sword  still  out  of  the  sheath. 

"Zounds!"  said  he,  flippant  as  ever,  in  spite 
of  his  hurts.  "You  are  overstepping  the  rules 
of  good  behavior,  friend,  to  save  my  life  and 
leave  me  at  the  door!  What  odd  tyranny!  I 
mean,  to  leave  me  at  the  window!  It  appears, 
at  Blois,  that  entrance  to  a  house  is  as  often 
effected  by  the  one  as  the  other — after  mid- 
night! And  then,  I  have  to  thank  the  lady  who 
flung  a  lamp  into  the  enemy's  ranks,  as  Thais 
of  old  tossed  torches!     My  compli " 

"Sir,  begone!" 

"No;  never  shall  it  be  said  of  a  noble  of  my 
house  that  I  was  boldly  saved  by  a  good  gen- 
tleman without  an  interchange  of  titles. 
Your  name  and  rank,  sir?" 

"Didier,"  answered  the  other,  with  growing 
coldness. 

"The  rest?"  persisted  Saverny. 

"Didier,  and  no  more!  Come,  come,  they 
were  slaying  you  and  I  brought  you  deliver- 
ance.    There  is  no  more  to  that!     Be  off !" 

But  the  fatuous  nobleman  was  always  on 


188  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  alert,  as  becomes  his  petty  world,  for 
trifles;  he  felt  that  he  was  on  the  threshold 
of  learning  what  held  Paris  to  the  grindstone: 
the  secret  of  Marion's  eclipse.  He  did  not  for 
a  moment  believe  but  that  "Didier"  was  a 
false  name  to  cover  one  of  high  degree,  for 
the  bearer's  loftiness  warranted  that  assump- 
tion. 

So  he  planted  himself  as  though  he  purposed 
taking  root  on  the  Smyrna  rug,  almost  cen- 
trally laid  down,  and  said: 

"Corbleu!  As  Prince  Gaston  swears!  These 
are  princely  airs,  forsooth!  You  little  care 
whether  I  was  done  to  a  vile  death  by  those 
rapscallions,  six  of  them  and  more,  arrayed 
to  slay  me  under  your  windows!  Six  long 
swords,  and  six  more  broad  ones,  against  my 
little  larding-pin !" 

Marion  had  been  able  up  to  this  point  to 
avoid  his  eye,  settled  on  Didier,  in  whom  he 
was  trying  to  identify  a  courtier.  On  perceiv- 
ing her,  at  last,  and  at  the  same  time,  making 
no  doubt  that  he  might  almost  buy  his  peace 
with  the  authorities  by  this  true  account  of 
the  beauty's  disappearance,  he  proceeded: 

"But  I  understand  why  your  mind  is  so  ab- 
sent. I  have  deranged  a  pleasant  interview, 
and  I  beg  your  pardon." 

Didier  was,  indeed,  inattentive.  He  was 
perplexed  by  this  burr  sticking  to  him,  like 
a  Chinese  who,  being  rescued  from  death,  is 
authorised  to  regard  his  benefactor  as  a  new 
parent  who  must  support  him  for  his  life. 

Saverny  profited  by  this  abstraction  to  whis- 
>er  to  Marion: 

"So  this  is  the  happy  man?" 

"You  will  be  my  ruin!"  she  hissed  in  the  same 
tone,  with  a  blasting  glance  which  ought  to 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  189 

have  withered  the  butterfly.    "I  am  in  love — 
with  him — for  the  first  time!" 

This  last  avowal  would  have  melted  a  heart 
of  stone.  Bat,  then,  Saverny  had  little  heart, 
and  that  of  wax. 

Didier  started.  It  seemed  to  him  that  this 
intruder  regarded  Marion  with  very  bold  eyes. 
And,  springing  between  them,  he  dashed  the 
lamp  from  the  woman's  hand  just  as  Saverny 
was  going  to  take  it  as  an  excuse  for  his  ap- 
proaching her. 

They  were  plunged  in  darkness,  now,  except- 
ing the  starlight  flowing  in  by  the  open  win^t 
dows. 

"You  have  put  out  the  light!"  exclaimed  the 
marquis. 

"Because,"  responded  the  man  in  black,  "it 
is  not  seemly  that  the  neighborhood,  which 
you  aroused  by  decoying  that  gang  into  the 
quiet  court,  should  see  us  depart." 

"lTs?    Depart?" 

"Certainly!  I  must  escort  you  out  of  street 
dangers!  I  am  not  the  man  to  do  things  half- 
measuredly!  If  you  please,"  added  he,  in  a 
tone  of  command,  "we  will  go,  bv  the  win- 
dow:" 

Saverny  felt  that  it  was  less  an  invitation 
than  a  menace  to  throw  him  out  if  he  pro- 
tracted his  stay.  He  bowed,  though  not  seen 
in  the  twilight;  he  bowed  again  more  lowly  to 
Marion,  and  said,  aloud: 

"Pare-the-well,  lady  fair!" 

"Come!"  said  Didier,  brusquely. 

"Still  your  abrupt  manner,"  said  the  fop; 
"but  I  owe  my  life  to  vou,  and  vou  mav  count 
upon  my  zeal,  ardor,  and  fraternal  affection. 
whenever  you  need  such.     I  am  the  Marquis  of 


190  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Saverny  and  my  townhouse  is  the  Nesle  Man- 
sion, Paris." 

"Verv  well,"  said  the  other  carelessly.  He 
shuddered  with  fury  at  this  coxcomb  having 
had  even  a  glance  at  Marion. 

Then,  gliding  in  between  them,  he  separated 
Saverny  from  the  lady  and  almost  shoved  him 
up  to  the  window,  where  he  forced  him — that 
is  the  word — to  climb  down,  not  even  offering 
him  a  hand,  though  he  must  have  seen  he  was 
crippled. 

Marion  watched  them  from  the  window,  two 
shadows  vaguely  defined  as  they  left  the  court 
for  the  main  street.  She  was  roused  from  her 
meditation  by  a  noise  and  a  flare  of  light  where 
they  were  last  seen.  An  alarm  bell  tolled,  a 
shot  or  two  were  fired. 

The  Knight  of  the  Watch  had  at  last  col- 
lected his  platoon  and  was  marching  to  the 
alley,  where,  according  to  a  frightened  citi- 
zen, an  army  of  the  rabble,  usually  camped  in 
the  old  mills  without  the  walls,  was  carrying 
sack  and  sword  and  havoc  into  the  houses  of 
the  Old  Street,  by  the  passage. 

But  when  his  forces  arrived,  Marion's  win- 
dow was  closed  hermetically.  Her  neighbors, 
roused  once  more,  answered  questions  very  tes- 
tily. The  captain  of  the  archers  would  have 
returned  altogether  empty  handed  to  the  Castle 
but  for  one  of  the  soldiers  perceiving  the  burst- 
ed  grating  in  the  adjoining  dwelling.  A  little 
deeper  searching  discovered  Malargue,  in  the 
cellar. 

At  first  they  took  him  to  be  drunk,  having 
lapped  the  winecask  which  brought  his  descent 
1<>  a  sudden  stop.  But  he  was  bathed  in  wine, 
not  sodden  with  it.  His  neck  was  broken.  The 
rope  of  the  street  lamp  had  tripped  him,  and, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  191 

after  all — as  veraciously  as  most  oracles  pro- 
phesy — that  of  the  Blanchapelle  Cul-de-sac  had 
foretold  his  doom  to  a  certainty:  he  had  lost 
his  life,  thanks  to  a  rope! 

When  the  noise  was  over,  at  the  withdrawal 
of  the  watch  with  their  single  corpse  as  trophy, 
Marion  let  Kose  undress  her,  without  comment- 
ing on  the  events  of  the  night,  however  eager 
the  old  woman  was  to  engage  in  conversation. 

"These  Savernys  are  rich  and  splendid,"  she 
thought  as  she  sank  on  the  pillow,  but  not  to 
repose,  "but  this  other,  poor  and  nameless — 
I  love  him!" 


192     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XII. 

WHEN    THEY    SAY    KING,    THEY    MEAN    CAR- 
DINAL. 

A  goodly  number  of  gentlemen  from  Paris, 
by  the  way  of  Chambord,  where  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  had  given  them  permission  to  "run 
the  bucks,"  were  assembled  around  tables  set 
before  the  Horn  of  St.  Hubert  Inn,  at  the  end 
of  the  Bridge  Street. 

It  was  a  favorite  inn,  as  well  of  the  residents 
who  did  not  share  in  the  reigning  monarch's 
liking  for  the  Chace,  as  the  others. 

One  look  at  the  kitchen,  a  view  of  which 
could  be  had  from  the  street,  clear  through 
the  refectory,  sufficed  to  explain  this  predilec- 
tion. 

This  part  of  the  town,  sloping  down  to  the 
Loire,  was  picturesque,  but  the  kitchen  was 
Garagantuesque. 

It  was  a  real  kitchen  of  the  times  of  Fran- 
cis I.,  when  men  were  giants  and  had  ogres' 
appetites. 

It  was  in  an  immense  hall,  larger  than  the 
eating-room  itself.  One  stone  wall  was  occu- 
pied by  "the  kitchen  battery,"  that  is,  all  the 
copper  utensils,  shining  like  barbers'  basins; 
the  wall  opposite  gleamed  with  those  pieces  of 
crockerv  which  delight  in  the  pictures  of  Os- 
tade  and  the  Teniers.  The  fireplace  faced  the 
windows  which  let  in  light— here  was  no  mys- 
tery to  be  concealed — on  the  contrary! 

The  chimney-place  was  a  vast  cavern,  but 
filled  with  a  splendid  fire.     In  its  time  it  had 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  193 

stained  to  ebony  the  outstanding  rafters,  from 
which  hung  all  sorts  of  rejoicing  edibles:  sau- 
sages, hams,  spiced  and  salted  tongues,  herbs 
for  stuffing,  and  crocks  of  lard. 

In  the  gaps,  hooks  supported  baskets  and 
wicker-worked  bottles  which  hinted  of  sauces, 
rare  cordials,  choice  wines  which  had  become 
syrups  in  an  age.  The  dressers  and  cupboards 
were  clean  and  brilliant  with  daily  care,  and 
bore  a  hundred  plates  and  dishes  in  course  of 
preparation  which  would  have  delighted  a  dys- 
peptic. Under  the  mantelpiece,  shone  and 
sparkled  the  tire  furniture,  such  as  the  pokers, 
tongs,  spare  spits,  roasting-jack,-  enormous 
kettle  for  soup  when  a  party  had  the  large 
table.  The  flaming  brands  sent  their  rays  all 
over  the  room,  capacious  though  it  was,  deep- 
ening the  shadows  between  the  beams,  casting 
a  roseate  glow  on  the  blue  delf  and  making  the 
regiment  of  copper  pans  glitter  like  a  brassy 
wall. 

Homer  or  Rabelais  would  have  exclaimed: 

"This  kitchen  is  a  system  of  which  the  fire 
is  the  sun!" 

It  was  a  world,  where  bustled  to  and  fro  a 
republic  of  men  and  women,  to  say  nothing  of 
animals.  The  cooks,  the  turn-spits,  the  vege- 
table maids,  the  scullions,  the  pan-scourers,  the 
dish-washers,  the  pastry-cook  and  his  helps, 
the  confectioner — threading  their  way,  like  the 
ball  in  Tivoli,  among  the  hissing  and  bubbling 
pans,  the  spluttering  frying-pans,  the  long  row 
of  joints,  fowls  and  fish  on  the  silvered  rod, 
revolving  with  solemn  gravity  before  the  bra- 
zier, and  weeping  dolefully  but  grandly  into 
the  series  of  pans  which  caught  the  delectable 
juice. 

Foremost   of   all    was  the   landlord   of  the 


194      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Horn — a  veritable  Horn  of  Plenty!  lie  was — 
as  it  should  be — Cook,  Vinter  and  Host;  he 
superintended  the  whole. 

"Mens  agitat  molem!" 

On  account  of  the  accession  of  company  the 
usual  riot  had  grown  into  a  tempest;  the  serv- 
ants and  cooks  shouted  and  bawled;  the  wo- 
men wrangled;  the  turnspit  dogs  barked  and 
howled  as  the  hot  grease  drops  flew  upon  their 
sleek  hides;  the  roasting-jacks  groaned  as  they 
specially  cooked  the  venison  for  the  hunters; 
the  water-butt  in  the  corner  ran  musically; 
the  flagons  and  glasses  jingled;  the  bottles 
rattled  and  the  mincing-knife  worked,  like  a 
distant  anticipation  of  the  guillotine  on  the 
Place  de  la  Concorde! 

But  the  tumult  at  the  door  was  as  animated. 

The  residents  criticised  the  fashions  of  the 
sportmen,  and  they  joked  at  the  Bloisians  be- 
ing a  hundred  years  behind  the  mode,  although 
only  forty  leagues  from  the  capital. 

The  courtiers,  ravished  at  the  excitement 
they  produced,  for  each  minute  brought  more 
customers  to  the  Horn,  spread  themselves  like 
peacocks,  speaking  loudly,  and  assuming  ex- 
travagant attitudes,  especially  when  women 
passed  the  row  of  tables. 

But,  alas;  what  the  men  from  Paris  used 
in  the  way  of  language  was  almost  Hebrew! 
What  did  the  good  souls  of  Blois  know  of  the 
reasons  why  orange  and  blue  should  be  the 
colors  of  the  day?  What  mattered  that  Ast 
should  be  made  a  duke,  at  last?  What  cared 
these  placid  gentry  about  thirty  Huguenots 
having  been  hanged,  somewhere,  with  their 
London-printed  Bibles  round  their  necks? 
And  the  names  were  unknown  to  them  of  the 
gallants  who  had  run  away  from  a  wife  or 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  195 

with  one — from  a  duel  or  to  one;  who  feasted, 
loved,  fought  as  if  the  next  year  would  be  that 
when,  according  to  a  worthy  Carthusian,  the 
world  would  come  to  an  end. 

"Excuse  me,"  said  the  Captaiu  of  the  Watch, 
presuming  od  his  military  capacity  to  accost 
one  of  the  chatterers,  "but,  Captain  Gasse,  as 
I  hear  you  cited,  may  I  inquire  what  is  the 
news  from  the  army? — I  have  a  son  before 
Figuiere." 

The  captain,  who  was  sore  at  his  costume 
being  ridiculed  by  friends,  who  had  poked  fun 
at  his  buttons  and  shoulder-knots  as  being 
"out,"  looked  hard  at  the  speaker,  but  reflect- 
ing that  he  was  sent  to  Blois  to  report  to  the 
garrison  commander  and  this  might  be  a  com- 
rade, answered  civilly  enough,  but  not  very  sat- 
isfactorily, in  a  careless  voice: 

"Why,  sir,  I  believe  we  have  surprised 
Figuiere,  or  that  Figuiere  has  surprised  us! 
Wait  a  minute — yes,  they  have  taken  it  from 
us!" 

"What  does  the  King  say  to  that?"  ques- 
tioned a  bystander,  stopping  in  the  act  of  curl- 
ing his  mustache  to  look  at  the  effect  by  a 
small  mirror  set  in  the  comb. 

"My  dear  Brichanteau,  the  Cardinal  does  not 
like  it  the  least  bit." 

"Here  is  Bouchavannes!"  cried  several  voices 
as  a  gentleman,  followed  by  a  groom,  stopped 
on  seeing  familiar  faces,  and  dismounted. 

"What  is  the  news  of  the  court — the  health 
of  their  Majesties?" 

Bouchavannes  shook  off  the  dust,  sat  on  a 
table  to  allow  a  servant  of  the  hostelry  to  pull 
off  his  riding  boots,  and  replied: 

"The  Cardinal  has  a  touch  of  the  gout, 
caught  at  the  Siege  of  La  Kochelle  and  not 


196     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

curable  by  its  salts,  ha,  ha!  and  he  goes  about 
in  a  litter!" 

"So  you  came  off  first  best  in  that  affair 
with  Arquien?"  asked  a  gentleman  who  in- 
sisted on  the  cavalier  sharing  an  immense 
flagon  of  wine  with  him. 

"It  was  not  I  who  fought  with  Arquien,  but 
my  cousin,  Caussade,  he  was  mixed  up  with 
the  quarrel  of  the  Brissacs  with  the  Soubises." 

"What  about?"  cried  the  chorus. 

Bouchavannes  wiped  his  lips  with  a  scented 
lace  handkerchief  and  replied: 

"An  absurd  race  between  a  hound  and  a 
horse!  A  mere  nothing.  My  cousin  was 
killed,  for  the  fun  of  duelling,  which  is  re- 
vived." 

"Revived?  I  thought  the  Cardinal  had  sup- 
pressed it!" 

"The  Cardinal!"  repeated  Gasse,  "I  see  that 
we  all  must  sav  'Cardinal!'  " 

"It  is  the  mode!" 

A  tall  man,  clad  in  black  velvet,  fringed 
with  silver,  and,  on  close  inspection,  his  but- 
tons of  the  same  metal  were  seen  to  be  moulded 
into  fool's-heads,  though  they  looked  like  the 
royal  fleur-de-lis,  spoke  out  at  this: 

"The  Cardinal  prohibited  duelling  in  the 
King's  name;  now,  he  will  prohibit  under  his!" 

The  gallants  looked  at  one  another;  and  they 
whispered: 

"That  is  Langely,  the  King's  jester.  What 
is  he  doing  here?  He  was  not  with  us,  at  the 
hunt!" 

"I  suspect,"  said  Brichanteau,  "that  he  is 
here  on  the  wild-goose  chase!" 

"What  wild-goose  chase?"  nsked  his  neigh- 
bor. 

"Why,  where  have  you  been  buried,  Roche- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  197 

baron,  not  to  have  heard  of  the  disappearance 
of  Marion  Delorme,  the  fairest  of  the  fair!" 

"Yes,"  said  the  chorus,  "she  has  left  Paris! 
And,  remarkable,  none  of  consequence  has  left 
it  at  the  same  time!" 

"She  has  been  all  things — now  she  has 
turned  politician!" 

"She  is  not  such  a  fool!"  said  Langely  in  his 
grave  voice 

"Why  do  they  not  offer  a  reward  for  her?" 
said  Bouchavannes. 

"Or  set  a  company  of  scouts  ahorse  to  dis- 
cover her?"  said  Gasse.  "I  would  founder  my 
barb  to  run  her  to  earth!" 

"I  should  win  the  reward,  boys!"  interrupted 
a  fresh  voice,  and  a  young  man  bounded  into 
the  midst  of  the  revellers,  and  struck  the  atti- 
tude of  a  male  dancer  after  a  pirouette. 

"Saverny!  the  marquis!  We  thought  you 
were  in  prison!" 

"I,  for  what?" 

"That  libel  about  the  royal  shaving!" 

"I  have  certain  word,"  replied  Saverny 
coolly,  "that  it  was  composed  by  a  secretary 
whom  I  discharged!  I,  capable  of  witty  lines, 
lines  that  have  good  rhythm,  and  which  rhyme! 
You  do  not  know  me  to  accuse  me  of  that  vile 
work !" 

"True!"  said  Rochebaron,  shaking  his  head. 
"I  did  not  for  a  moment  believe  that  Saverny 
wrote  a  line,  of  it!     It  was  so  good!" 

In  the  midst  of  the  laugh  at  the  remem- 
brance, Gasse  broke  in: 

''But  the  marquis  says  that  he  has  the  key 
to  the  miracle,  the  prodigy  which  threw  a 
damper  over  Paris!  He  ran  away  with  Mar- 
ion!" 

"No,  no,"  protested  the  coxcomb,  "I  was  only 


198     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

seeking  her.  The  fortune-teller  of  Blancha- 
pelle  Lane  informed  me  that  she  had  fled  alone! 
and  gave  me  the  clue  to  her  whereabouts! 
Gentlemen,  Marion  is  here!" 

A  roar  of  incredulous  laughter  shook  the 
tables. 

The  leader  of  society  at  Blois,  the  antipodes 
of  Paris,  where  they  had  but  to  look  around 
to  see  that  all  was  old,  dingy,  rusty  and 
cramped. 

The  towers  of  St.  Nicholas  had  an  awkward 
and  provincial  air  compared  with  Notre 
Dame's. 

"I  tell  you  that  she  is  here,  for  I  have  seen 
her." 

''Hidden  here?  Then  she  has  some  grand 
amour!" 

"I  do  not  know  how  great  Don  Cupido  is," 
went  on  the  marquis,  enchanted  at  being  the 
center  of  all  ears  and  eyes,  "but  she  has  a 
bold  and  brave  gallant.  The  thieves  took  me 
by  the  collar,  one  night,  in  these  noisome 
streets,  up  there,  a  dozen  all  told,  who  wanted 
to  tell  the  time  by  my  watch  and  be  my  al- 
moner with  my  purse.  While  I  was  crossing 
swords  with  them — as  many  as  could  get  at 
me — a  man  sprang  from  the  house  where  Mar- 
ion was  sheltered,  and  dispersed  the  banditti." 

"Tell  your  tale  to  Corneille,  the  new  poet 
who  has  revolutionised  the  stage  with  his  'Cid,' 
and  he  may  make  a  drama  of  it." 

"But  for  this  hero,  it  would  have  been  my 
tragedy,"  said  the  marquis,  patting  his  shoul- 
der where  the  wound  still  stung. 

"Well,  who  is  he?" 

"I  have  been  hunting  for  him,  while  you  were 
after  the  deer,  for  I  long  to  renew  our  acquain- 
tance!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  199 

"If  he  is  in  love  with  Marion,  why  nut  go 
to  Marion's?  That  is  the  way  to  kill  two  birds 
with  the  one  stone,"  said  the  brilliant  Boucha- 
vannes. 

"But  she  has  given  up  her  dwelling!  She 
dismissed  her  solitary  servant,  and  she  fled — " 

"Returned  to  Paris?" 

"Impossible!  Marion  is  too  well  known  to 
pass  the  City  bars  without  the  officers  of  the 
civic  taxes  recognising  her!" 

"That  is  true,  Saverny!"  said  Gasse.  "The 
idea  of  my  deploring  my  transfer  to  Blois,  and 
Marion  is  here!  Come  here,  boy!"  he  said 
coaxingly  to  Saverny.  "Tell  me  howT  far  you 
followed  her  traces,  for  I  will  take  them  up, 
having  nothing  else  to  do!" 

"Why,  I  thought  you  were  sent  here,  on 
active  service?" 

"Active  service,  in  Blois!"  and  Gasse  yawmed 
plainly.     "Alack!" 

"Does  he  persist,"  struck  in  Bouchavannes 
with  his  eyes  toward  the  kitchen,  whence  is- 
sued the  delicious  odor  of  roasting  venison. 
"Does  he  persist  that  Marion  is  here,  incog- 
nito?" 

Whereupon  several  accompanied  the  speaker 
and  hemmed  Saverny  in  with  chairs,  so  that 
he  had  to  repeat  his  story  of  the  nocturnal  ad- 
ventures, with  such  embellishments  as  would 
enhance  his  importance. 

Beside  them  a  dispute  of  quite  another  stamp 
was  rising. 

In  all  times  the  star  ascending  has  upholders 
who  trj-  to  decry  the  constant  supporters  of  the 
declining  one. 

The  old  school  and  the  new  were  in  opposi- 
tion on  the  stage  and  in  the  library,  for  plays 
were  readable  in  those  da  vs.      Corneille,  at  a 


200  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

bound,  impossible  to  divine  from  his  "Gallery 
of  the  Law  Palace"  or  "Melite,"  built  on  the 
ancient  lines,  had  attained  the  elevation  when 
he  could  be  aimed  at,  by  his  "Cid." 

The  style  was  mocked  at  from  its  familiarity. 
He  spoke  of  forbidden  things  and  called  spades 
by  their  name  at  a  period  when  the  Quality 
tried  to  be  diverse  from  the  populace  by  using 
paraphrases.  The  new  playwright's  "Cid"  of- 
fended the  established  canons,  particularly  in 
wedding  the  woman  whom  he  loved;  this  had 
never  before  been  seen  in  tragedy.  The  grand 
tragedy  was  still  "Pyrarnus"  and"Bradainante," 
or  Mairet's  "The  Last  and  Great  Soliman." 
Scuderi  was  cited  as  able  to  crush  Corneille  at 
a  stroke  of  the  pen.  What  a  bold  and  vain 
spirit  had  this  innovator,  to  boast  of  invent- 
ing when  everything  had  been  created  by  Gar- 
nier,  or  Hardy,  or  "the  Theophile!"  In  fact, 
the  whole  Academy  had  not  a  member  but 
could  out-write  this  upstart. 

Chapelain  the  satirist  was  at  the  head  of  one 
set,  deriding  the  idea  that  the  famous  minds 
had  not  exhausted  all  topics,  and  Goden,  Bish- 
op of  Grasse,  could  only  defend  the  new  genius 
by  averring  that  he  might  write  some  piece 
worthy  of  attention  if  he  would  abide  by  the 
good  old  plans  and  remember  Aristotle! 

As  for  the  people,  the  play-going  public  was 
but  a  thick  wall  on  which  the  drama  was  su- 
perficially frescoed. 

As  for  society,  it  was  composed  of  sceptics: 
they  would  have  shrugged  their  shoulders  and 
laughed  at  any  one  who  suggested  that  nature 
repeats  even  her  grandest  effects;  that  there 
might  still  be  a  Charlemagne,  vast,  poetic  and 
almost  fabulous  in  verve,  one  that  would  be 
to  their  Corneille  and  Moliere  and  to  our  Shake- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  201 

speare,  what  Napoleon  the  Great  is  to  Charle- 


magne. 


"At  all  events,"  said  Brichanteau,  eager  to 
get  away  to  dinner,  "let  us  sum  this  up. 
Granted  that  your1  Corneille  is  a  fellow  of  merit 
and  to  be  esteemed,  he  is  of  the  minor  nobility 
with  a  name  smacking  of  vulgarity!" 

"He  comes,''  added  Bouchavannes,  "of  a  fam- 
ily of  pettifoggers,  who  clipped  ducats  to  lay 
up  pence!" 

"Gentlemen,"  said  another,  who  had  listened 
patiently,  "if  the  public  like  this  new-comer's 
rhapsodies,  all  is  over  with  high  art.  The  thea- 
tre will  go  to  the  dogs,  and  to  see  a  good  old 
play,  we  will  be  compelled  to  go  to  the  country 
fairs  where,  I  trust,  for  a  long  while  will  be 
harbored  in  the  traveling  booths  the  sacred 
traditions.  Say  what  you  will,  my  opinion  is 
that  this  Corneille  has  been  set  up  to  kill  off 
the  established  plays  in  order  to  give  a  clear 
stage  for  the  still  newer  sort — " 

"What!  worse  after  Corneille?"  was  the  gen- 
eral cry. 

"Certainly,  after  Corneille!  Has  not  my 
Lord  Richelieu  in  his  portfolio  two  or  three 
tragedies — " 

A  few  faces  smiled;  one  man  laughed,  but 
instantly  turned  it  off  as  a  cough;  they  all  be- 
came grave,  and  Gasse  whispered: 

"Say  'My  Lord'  without  naming  names  or 
speak  in  a  lower  tone!" 

"Yes,  hush!  my  dear  Villac!  Who  knows 
but  the  Bloisians  are  redhot  Cardinalists?" 

The  townspeople  had  crowded  round  the  de- 
baters, the  subject  being  a  novelty  to  them. 

But  Villac  had  been  an  early  arrival;  as  a 
kind  of  amateur  steward  to  the  party,  having 
selected  the  Horn  of  Hubert  for  the  sportsmen, 


202  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

he  had,  as  usual  with  lovers  of  the  table, 
tasted  the  wine.  So  with  a  flushed  face,  glad 
in  turn  to  be  under  the  eves  of  the  natives, 
he  cried,  in  the  reverse  of  a  whisper: 

"Basta!  Down  with  oppressors  and  suppres- 
sors of  free  speech!  The  devil  fly  away  with 
the  Scarlet  Robe!  Has  not  his  Eminence 
enough  of  a  field  with  the  Army,  the  Navy  and 
the  floor  of  Parliament  to  leave  playgoers  their 
stage!  Why  should  he  impose  himself  on  our 
tongue?" 

"He  is  right,"  subjoined  Bouchavannes,  like- 
wise excited.  "Death  and  downfall  to  this 
Richelieu,  who  is  making  but  a  poor  place  of 
France!  He  abates  and  he  rends!  His  scarlet 
mantle  is  only  fit  to  hide  his  gory  hand!" 

"I  stand  by  ye!"  said  Rochebaron,  rising  un- 
steadily, for  he  had  been  calming  his  appetite 
with  bumpers  of  Gascony  wine,  "with  such  a 
monopoliser,  what  is  the  use  of  the  King?" 

"The  King,"  said  Brichanteau,  delighted  at 
the  sensation  thrilling  the  crowd  at  all  these 
tirades,  and  desirous  to  outdo  his  foregoers, 
"the  King  is  just  a  lantern  who  saves  the  flame, 
Richelieu,  from  the  tempest  by  his  tarnished 
glass!  The  people  follow  the  light,  not  know- 
ing— not  caring  that  it  is  veiled  and  that  the 
glass  is  not  the  source  of  effulgence!" 

"Welcome  the  day,"  said  Bouchavannes, 
"when  with  our  swords  we  snuff  this  flame!" 

"Snuff  some  flames,"  remarked  the  royal  jes- 
ter, "and  they  burn  but  the  brighter!" 

No  one  laughed;  the  whirlwind  had  to  blow 
itself  out,  and  the  silence  of  the  hearers  was 
taken  by  the  young  men  as  approbation. 

Bouchavannes  unfolded  his  arms  and  made 
the  movement  of  embracing  his  friends. 

"Ah!  if  everybody  thought  as  I  do,  about 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  203 

this    head,    it    would   not  be   long   before — " 
"Lei  us  arrange  to — "  began  Brichanteau  at 
the  sudden  stoppage  of  the  other  haranguer. 

"To  give  him  a  good  mortal  stroke!"  said 
Bouchavannes,  bringing  his  fist  down  on  Hie 
table  and  breaking  a  flask  of  cordial  by  the 
shock. 

Langely  rose  at  his  table.  His  black  suit 
lengthened  his  tall  figure.  His  buttons  jingled 
flat  as  he  said  in  a  lugubrious  voice: 

"A  conspiracy!"  he  cried  out.  "Young 
hearts,  remember  the  Marillacs!" 

"The  victims  of  Laffemas  and  Laubarde- 
mont,"  muttered  the  bystanders,  shuddering. 

Michel  and  Louis  de  Marillac  were  brothers, 
whom  the  Queen  Mother,  Maria  de  Medici,  had 
patronised  and  lifted  to  power.  Michel  had 
become  Keeper  of  the  Seals  and  Louis  was 
given  the  charge  of  the  Army  in  Italy. 

After  "the  Day  of  Dupes,"  wrhen  Richelieu 
turned  the  tables  on  the  coalition  of  his  ene- 
mies, namely,  the  Old  Queen,  the  present  one, 
Prince  Gaston,  and  all  their  allies,  his  first 
strokes  in  retaliation  were  to  cast  down  their 
favorites.  He  had  the  seals  of  state  taken 
away  from  Michel  de  Marillac,  who  was  ban 
ished  from  the  capital.  Marshal  Schomberg 
was  ordered  to  arrest  the  other  Marillac,  even 
in  head-quarters,  and  he  brought  him  to  the 
Cardinal,  at  Rueil. 

Marillac's  relatives  sued  for  mercy;  Maria 
and  Gaston  vowed  that  any  harm  done  their 
friend  would  be  amply  repaid;  they  averred 
that  they  answered  for  him  with  blood  and 
property  and  that  they  would  not  allow  the 
least  injury  to  be  done  him. 

The  warmest  supporters  of  the  Prime  Min- 
ister flinched. 


204     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"He  is  a  genius,"  acknowledged  their  asso- 
ciates, "but,  see!     He  is  becoming  a  tyrant!" 

Brother  Joseph  argued  with  his  superior. 

"Joseph,"  said  the  statesman,  "this  Marillac 
wras  chosen  by  the  Old  Queen  to  assassinate 
me,  if  the  Colonel  of  the  Corsican  Guards  hung 
back,  just  as  Guise  and  Ancre  were  done  to 
death!" 

"If  it  is  personal  reprisal,  then  I  dispute  no 
more,"  said  the  Capuchin. 

"By  Saint  Francis!"  cried  Richelieu,  in- 
censed, "to  use  your  own  oath!  This  system  of 
tempering  the  rule  of  France  by  Italian  bra- 
voes  must  end!  I  am  not  going  to  fall  beneath 
the  knife  of  a  Clement  or  a  Ravaillac!  Chalais 
was  a  mere  popingay  to  Marillac,  but  I  will 
make  as  short  shrift  of  one  as  the  other!" 

"Chalais  was  a  puppet  of  the  court!  The 
people  did  not  care  for  his  passing  away,  any 
more  than  for  a  feather  out  of  the  King's  cap! 
But,  Marillac!" 

"Marillac  has  plundered  the  people  and  the 
realm,"  continued  the  Premier. 

"Perhaps  the  accusation  was  calumny,"  said 
Joseph,  feebly,  for  it  was  not  his  wont  to  con- 
travene his  principal  with  pleas  of  mercy. 

"His  malversation  is  abundantly  proven.  I 
have  sheaves  of  evidence!  He  is  a  traitor.  He 
was  in  communication  with  the  Duke  of  Lor- 
raine!" 

"Hard  to  prove  that!" 

"Laubardemont  holds  the  proof!" 

"He  can  prove  anything!" 

"Besides,"  said  the  Minister,  with  a  slight 
smile,  "who  but  Marillac  sent  to  Rome  that 
word  against  you,  brother,  which  so  long  de- 
lavs  the  cardinal's  hat!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  205 

Joseph  felt  his  pale  check  glow.  He  bowed 
and  merely  faltered: 

"Marillac  no  more  plundered  than  other  gen- 
erals. Soldier — robber!  He  laughed  at  the 
charge  of  peculation,  saying  that  the  fine 
would  always  be  more  than  his  property,  how- 
soever acquired!" 

"He  has  stolen  enough  to  bring  to  the  block 
the  head  of  a  Marshal  of  France,"  replied  the 
other  determinedly. 

Marillac  was  condemned  to  death  for  his  in- 
roads on  the  Treasury,  under  an  act  which  his 
brother  Michel  had  drawn  up.  He  was  de- 
capitated a  few  days  afterwards,  to  the  grati- 
fication of  no  one  but  the  peasants  whom  the 
Marshal  had  borne  hard  upon,  after  the  man- 
ner of  all  the  Great  Captains  of  that  period. 
<  'ontemporaries  attributed  the  deed  to  a  per- 
sonal enmity  of  Richelieu. 

But  whatever  the  popular  opinion,  the  re- 
collection was  sombre  and  the  spectators  of 
the  courtiers  and  the  royal  jester  trembled  as 
they  eyed  the  latter,  who  sat  down  quietly, 
after  his  reminder,  having  cast  round  him  dire 
consternation. 

Those  who  had  found  chairs  resumed  their 
seats,  and  drinking  went  on,  but  without  gusto. 

"Is  that  dinner  never  to  be  served?"  said 
several.  "Are  we  to  go  on  forever  with  our 
tongues  hanging  a  yard  out  of  the  mouth!"   . 

"Coming!"  returned  a  head-waiter  at  the 
door;  "remark,  gentlemen,  that  a  dinner  for 
such  a  distinguished  partv  is  not  a  light 
affair!" 

"Don't  let  it  be  heavy!"  said  Langely. 

The  laughter  was  sincere  this  time,  and  some 
minutes  passed  merrily. 


206  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  ROYAL   EDICT. 

But  the  Chevalier  de  Villac,  intoxicated  to 
the  stage  of  nursing  a  fancied  wrong,  suddenly 
said  to  his  neighbor,  though  they  had  been 
hobnobbing  aud  toasting  Marion: 

"My  dear  Montpesat,  you  used  language 
about  my  protege  Corneille,  a  while  ago,  which 
tingles  yet  in  mine  ears!" 

"What  did  I  say?  for,  on  my  honor,  I  have 
forgotten!" 

"I — I  will  not  sully  my  lips  by  repeating  the 
insults,"  replied  Villac,  who  had,  in  fact,  for- 
gotten the  words  also,  "but  they  must  be  an- 
swered for." 

"Do  you  mean  with  the " 

He  slapped  his  sword-hilt. 

"Just  so!" 

"Or  do  you  prefer  the  pistol?" 

"Both,"  said  the  chevalier. 

They  rose,  locked  arms  and  staggered  among 
the  revellers,  with  a  view  of  seeking  a  quiet 
corner.  But  they  had  to  pass  the  table  where 
the  royal  jester  sat  alone. 

He  thrust  out  his  long  leg  to  bring  them  to 
a  halt,  and  said: 

"A  duel?  Hark  ye!  There  is  a  new  order 
before  the  King  for  his  signature!  It  may  be 
promulgated  by  this  hour!  Remember  how 
the  Lord  of  Boutteville  lost  his  head  for  hav- 
ing put  his  hand  once  too  often  to  his  sword 
after  the  like  prohibition!" 

The  two  dropped  their  arms,  dismayed,  and 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  207 

suddenly  changing  mood,  as  men  will   do  in 
wine,  cried  in  unison: 

"The  fool  is  right,  and  we  are  fools — to  want 
to  fight  about  this  scribbling  play-wright!  To 
the  deuce  with  Corneille!" 

As  they  returned  to  their  places,  partially 
sobered,  a  citizen  asked  who  had  made  bold  to 
slide  his  chair  among  the  courtiers: 

"Who  is  this  bland  but  grave  gentleman,  all 
in  black?  He  sends  the  cold  shivers  down  my 
back!" 

"That,  sir,  is  M.  Langely,  the  King's  liege 
buffoon.  He  has  many  another  fool  in  all 
Fiance,  but  they  are  not  bound  by  his  wages!" 

"I  am  not  astonished,  with  such  a  sad  merri- 
man,  that  the  King — long  life  to  him! — is  so 
melancholy!"  said  the  citizen. 

"Faith!  the  Bloisians  are  looking  up,"  said 
Boucha vannes.  ''Let  me  explain,  sir!  This  fool 
of  the  King's  is  suspected  to  be  more  of  a 
Cardinal's  man  than  the  King's — hence  his 
humor!" 

Langely  had  not  resented  the  observations 
on  himself;  but,  at  this  reflection  on  the  Prime 
Minister,  he  rose,  bowed  and  said: 

"Have  a  care,  gentlemen!  Our  mighty  ruler 
is  a  mower  who  traces  a  wide  swathe;  the 
blood  gushes  liberally  where  his  blade  has 
swept,  but  he  has  only  to  spread  his  blood- 
colored  mantle  over  the  remains,  and  who  dare 
speak  a  word?    Xo  one!    All  is  over!" 

A  silence  ensued,  during  which  nothing  was 
audible  but  the  cease1  ss  noir  ;  and  bustle  in 
the  kitchen  where  the  dishing  up  was  begin- 
ning. In  the  large  room,  the  tables  had  been 
lengthened  by  joining  them,  and  all  the  napery 
Of  the  inn  \v;ir  called  into  requisition. 


208     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Beside  this  jester,"  said  Rochebarou,  guard- 
edly, "grim  Pluto  is  a  jolly  companion!" 

The  dishes  began  to  clatter  and  the  plate 
to  clink  as  the  table  was  set. 

"Gentlemen!"  said  the  host,  appearing,  ru- 
bicond  and  smiling  from  ear  to  ear,  on  the 
threshold:    "You  are  served!" 

A  rush  was  made  for  the  room,  and,  for  a 
few  minutes,  all  was  confusion  out  of  which 
order  gradually  emerged. 

The  repast  w  as  worthy  of  the  Hubert's  Horn. 
The  table  was  covered  with  the  dishes,  done  to 
a  turn,  and  the  vessels  for  the  divers  liquors. 

All  serious  subjects  were  dismissed,  and  for 
a  while  glasses  and  cups  clinked  and  clattered, 
and  knives  and  forks  played. 

In  the  stillness  which  follows  the  outset  of  a 
meal  at  which  are  engaged  cavaliers  after  a 
hunting  party,  the  open  space  before  the  inn 
was  covered  by  a  mob.  Citizens  had  hurried 
from  the  town  in  every  part  on  hearing  the 
town  herald's  trumpet-call  at  the  bridge  head. 

This  musical  annunciator  was  reinforced  by 
a  brother,  who  wore  the  roval  blue  and  had  a 
fleur-de-lis'd  flag  pendant  from  his  trumpet. 
The  two  were  escorted  by  a  united  troop  of 
city  watch  and  the  light  horse  of  the  garrison. 

The  Sheriff  presided  civilly  over  the  proces- 
sion, with  four  javelin-men,  one  of  whom  car 
ried  a  kettle-drum  with  which  he  beat  a  roll 
for  silence  after  the  trumpet  blast. 

"Here,  here."  cried  Captain  Gasse,  disturbed 
in  dissecting  his  slice  of  haunch.  "Have  you 
no  public  square  but  this  to  exercise  your 
crier's  voice  within!" 

The  host  had  waddled  to  the  doorway  and 
exchanged  a  word  of  enlightenment  with  the 
Sheriff. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  209 

"Please  ye,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  turning  bis 
red  face  round,  "it  is  a  royal  proclamation 
and  must  be  published  in  all  the  public  ways. 
Tins  is  the  first  open  place  from  tbe  bridge, 
and,  besides,  all  lilois,  I  do  believe,  has  col- 
lected here,  under  my  windows,  to  see  your 
worships  do  justice  to  my  dinner!" 

"Order  and  silence!"  shouted  the  town  crier, 
"for  a  proclamation  of  the  King!" 

"The  King!"  sneered  Bouchavannes,  still  sul- 
len, and  looking  to  see  where  Langely  was.  He 
had  remained  at  bis  table  at  the  door.  "That 
is  a  royal  mantle  which  cloaks  Richelieu." 

The  drum  beat  and  the  trumpets  flourished, 
and  the  crier  in  a  nasal  voice  bawled,  without 
regard  to  punctuation — which,  to  confess  the 
truth,  did  not  exist  in  the  document: 

"Ordinance,  by  his  Majesty  and  his  Council 
assembled!  Louis,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King 
of  France  and  of  Navarre,  to  all  present  to 
whom  this  comes,  Greeting!" 

He  made  a  bow,  and  the  drum  and  trumpets 
prolonged  their  task  to  give  him  a  breathing 
spell. 

"Having  considered  that  every  ruler  wishes 
to  exterminate  duelling  by  severe  penalties, 
and  that,  notwithstanding  the  edicts  signed  by 
the  Kings  our  foregoers,  duelling  is  more  prev- 
alent at  present  than  heretofore,  WE  ordain 
and  command  that,  henceforward,  as  duellists 
are  felons  who  deprive  us  of  our  subjects  by 
taking  their  lives,  they  are  to  be  brought  be- 
fore our  courts,  or  if  one  survive,  that  sole  sur- 
vivor, and  tried  for  the  misdeed.  If  found 
guilty,  he  or  they  are  to  be  banged  high  in  the 


210  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

air  with  a  short  rope!  Noble  or  baseborn, 
hanged!  To  make  this  edict  more  efficacious, 
be  it  also  known  that  WE  renounce  for  this 
kind  of  crime  OUR  right  to  grant  pardon. 
This  is  OUR  good  pleasure! 

"  Signed:  LOUIS." 

A  loud  cheer  drowned  the  drum  and  trum- 
pets, breaking  out  again. 

"Wait,"  said  the  crier,  lifting  his  hand.  "It 
is  countersigDed:    RICHELIEU!" 

The  cheer  was  as  loud,  but  not  as  sincere  or 
spontaneous  as  the  former;  it  was  Langely 
who  led  it  off  with  his  stern  voice. 

Captain  Gasse  was  a  valiant  trencherman, 
and  a  brave  soldier;  but  the  reading  of  the 
edict  ran  counter  to  his  appetite.  After  a  few 
attempts  to  finish  his  platter,  he  pushed  it 
back,  with  the  indignation  burning  in  the  other 
courtiers,  and  said: 

"Gentleman,  this  has  spoilt  my  share  of  the 
feast!  The  idea  of  hanging  gentlemen  like  the 
Thieves,  Penitent  or  Impenitent!" 

"Stuff!"  said  Bouchavannes,  setting  down  his 
glass  of  Burgundy  untasted.  "Hang  us?  I 
prithee,  where  is  the  hemp  grown  with  which 
the  rope  is  made  to  hang  a  noble?" 

"Never  mind  the  detail,"  said  Langely  in  his 
cutting  tone.  "Perhaps  by  a  little  bribe  you 
may  have  a  silken  cord,  as,  I  have  heard  of, 
in  other  countries!" 

The  crier  had  continued  his  delivery  by  an- 
nouncing that  the  edict  was  to  be  published 
further  by  copies  affixed  to  prominent  objects. 
He  took  one  of  these  to  be  the  post  to  which 
horses  might  be  attached,  at  the  inn  door.  A 
varlet  hung  the  paper,  stretched  on  a  frame 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  211 

and    glazed    with    scraped   horn    to   defy   the 
weather,  to  the  post  by  a  string. 

■•Mark,"  proceeded  the  caustic  jester,  "they 
give  you  a  sample  of  what  follows  by  hanging 
i  he  proclamation!" 

'•Would  he  wore  there  who  made  it!"  said 
Bouchavannes,  but,  luckily,  his  voice  was  thick 
from  his  not  having  cleared  it  with  his  wine, 
and  his  neighbors  pretended  not  to  hear  the 
treasonable  utterance,  to  which,  as  Saverny 
remarked,  his  ballad  was  milk-and-water! 

The  dinner  went  off  badly.  The  wine  turned 
sour,  and  one  by  one  the  carousers  withdrew, 
under  pretext  of  seeking  lodgings  for  the  night, 
the  inn  being  full. 

No  one  was  bold  enough  to  propose  riding 
towards  Paris  after  dark. 

The  marquis'  adventure  with  the  footpads  in 
the  heart  of  Blois  gave  a  taste  of  their  daring. 
How  much  bolder  would  they  be  in  the  woods 
through  which  ran  the  Faris  Road? 

"Cousin  Saverny,''  said  Brichanteau,  as  a 
choice  knot  of  the  gallants  sat  out  at  the  inn 
door  in  the  twilight,  "talking  of  thieves,  did 
you  say  you  had  exhausted  all  means  to  dis- 
cover the  hero  who  rescued  you  from  that  band 
the  other  night!" 

"That  is  what  I  said.  I  have  vainly  made 
inquiries  throughout  the  town.  The  footpads, 
with  the  exception  of  one,  the  captain — save 
the  mark! — who  was  found  with  a  broken  neck 
in  a  neighboring  cellar — the  gallant,  Marion, — 
all  have  vanished  like  a  nightmare!  with  apol- 
ogies for  misusing  that  simile  for  a  lovely 
dream-like  Marion  the  peerless!" 

"None  of  your  ancestors  were  more  neatly 
plucked  from  under  the  scimetar  of  the  Sara- 
cens, I  warrant!"'  said  Gasse. 


212  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"True,  captain!  and  to  think  that  I  should 
not  know  him  again.  I  followed  him  indoors, 
but,  you  will  understand,  he  upset  the  lamp, 
as  I  was  relieving  the  lady  of  it,  and  a  dark- 
ness, like  that  Egyptian,  made  us  all  blacka- 
moors in  the  eclipse." 

"Strange  conduct!"  said  Brichanteau. 

"I  suppose  you  exchanged  names?"  queried 
the  captain. 

"I  have  his  as  'Didier.'  " 

A  peal  of  laughter  went  round  the  welkin 
encircling  the  marquis. 

"Is  that  the  name  of  a  Christian?"  cried 
the  same  gentleman  who  had  objected  to  "Cor- 
neille,"  as  being  vulgar.  "That  is  very  low, 
quite  common!" 

"He  called  himself  so.  A  name  for  a  warrior 
in  arms  with  his  visor  down!  Many  victors  of 
blue  blood  may  wear  brighter  names,  but  a 
braver  heart  is  not  in  their  breast!  I  had  a 
dozen  brigands  laying  it  on  to  me.  He  was 
beside  a  woman — Venus — Marion  Delorme, 
and  he  quitted  her,  ye  nymphs  of  Lesbos!  to 
leap  into  the  ring  of  steel,  and  save  me.  My 
debt  is  enormous,  and  I  vow,  before  ye  all,  to 
repay  it!" 

He  held  up  his  hand  in  a  gesture  worthy 
of  an  actor  in  "the  Horaces." 

Langely's  dry  laugh  echoed  along  the  street. 

"Since  when  has  the  Marquis  de  Saverny 
paid  his  debts?"  said  he. 

This  time  the  applause  was  merry  and 
heartv. 

"Those  which  blood  may  pay,"  retorted  the 
spendthrift,  proudly,  "I  have  always  liqui- 
dated. My  heart  is  my  mint,  and  its  drops  all 
the  coin  with  which  I  can  close  my  accounts." 

"Bravo!"  said  his  friends. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  213 

The  night  came  on  densely.  Within,  the 
kitchen,  though  reposing,  so  to  say,  after  the 
effort  of  the  grand  banquet,  so  ill-appreciated 
through  no  fault  of  its  own,  glowed  redly  like 
the  forge  of  the  Cyclops.  The  turnspits,  taking 
the  air  in  their  vacation,  at  the  door,  seemed 
like  Cerberus'  whelps. 

The  windows  throughout  the  town,  particu- 
larly on  the  upper  part,  glittered;  the  good  citi- 
zens there  had  no  fear  of  being  overlooked.  A 
lamplighter,  carrying  his  ladder  so  that  he 
bore  an  unpleasant  resemblance  to  the  execu- 
tioner, took  in  the  tavern  in  his  peregrination, 
and — no  doubt,  pursuant  to  an  order — attached 
a  spare  lantern  to  the  tying-post  over  the 
placard. 

The  host  ordered  a  waiter  to  hang  a  couple 
of  stable  lanterns  over  the  tables  where  the 
remaining  members  of  the  hunting  party  slow- 
ly imbibed  their  hot  wine,  with  little  of  that 
gaiety  usual  after  a  good  dinner. 

"That  beast  of  a  proclamation,"  commented 
the  landlord,  to  his  head-waiter.  "It  makes 
them  see  black!" 

"Rather,  it  makes  them  see  red!  It  means 
bloodshed,  master!  To  order  men  of  the  sword 
not  to  fight,  compels  them  to  do  it,  in  order  to 
show  they  are  superior  to  paper  and  ink!" 

"Nevertheless,  Cardinal  Richelieu  has  been 
a  gallant  knight.  I  was  at  the  Siege  of  La 
Rochelle " 

"You,  at  the  Siege,  master!"  cried  the  wait- 
er, incredulously. 

"Yes,  I  was  sutler  to  the  Swiss  Guards." 

"Which  attended  the  King,  and  did  no  fight- 
ing!    I  understand." 

"Well,  this  statesman  at  whom  these  swords- 


214  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

men  sniff,  and  backbite,  be  went  under  fire  as 
if  be  were  sbot-proof !" 

"What  would  be  the  use  of  being  a  bishop, 
or  a  cardinal,  unless  you  could  feel  that  vour 
gown  shielded  you  from  the  heretic's  bullets!" 
said  the  waiter,  piously. 

As  his  master  was  about  to  retire  within 
doors,  he  laid  his  fat  hand  on  his  arm,  and 
added: 

"While  on  the  subject  of  heretics,  I  think 
that  we  are  mistaken  about  the  young  couple 
in  the  parlor  with  the  two  sleeping-rooms. 
They  are  not  lovers." 

"No?" 

"But  he  is  a  theologian  and  she  his  pupil.  I 
caught  a  speech  or  two  he  was  making  as  I 
came  down  the  stairs,  the  other  day,  and — 
zookers!  it  was  preaching,  for  a  hundred 
francs!" 

"Ah,  she  is  too  beautiful  to  stand  in  need 
of  preaching!  If  ever  an  angel  face  covered 
an  angel  soul,  that  woman  has  them!" 

"It  used  to  be  so!  when  the  sons  of  Adam 
courted  angels!"  replied  the  waiter  philosophi- 
cally. "But  that  was  at  a  distance  and  Wom- 
ankind, a  comprehensive  word,  master  mine, 
inasmuch  as  it  includes  kind  woman,  and, 
alack!  the  other  kind!  Womankind  wear  any 
face.  How  often  the  fairer  the  face  the  blacker 
the  heart!" 

"Saucepans  and  smokejacks!  how  you  talk! 
but,  then,  any  one  can  guess  that  you  have 
been  twice  married!"  rejoined  the  host.  "But," 
he  resumed,  interrupting  himself,  as  he  looked 
up  the  broad  and  massive  stairs,  "stand  aside, 
for  here  comes  the  young  gentleman  whom  you 
accuse  of  being  a  theologian.  Faith,  his  step, 
like  his  garb,  is  funereal  J    Yon  may  bo  right, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  215 

after  all!     However,  the  money  of  a  heretic 
is  as  good  as  a  faithful  believer's,  and  he  has 
paid  up  to  the  mark!" 
It   was  Didier  who  came  down  the  broad 

stairs. 


216     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

A   DUEL   UNDER  THE  NOOSE. 

Jealousy  was  easily  aroused  in  a  moody 
heart  like  Didier's;  he  could  not  say  that 
Marion  had  sought  the  glances  of  the  intrusive 
Saverny,  but  it  struck  him  that  they  were  not 
perfect  strangers.  But  his  love  was  at  that 
pitch  when  he  was  fearful  of  offending  his 
idol  by  putting  questions  to  which  the  frank 
answer  or  the  elusive  reply  might  endanger 
his  happiness. 

Lovers  may  not  be  perspicacious,  but  they 
are  always  aware  that  they  live  in  a  palace  of 
ice — a  hot  breath  may  crack  the  wall  and  the 
whole  shiver  to  atoms. 

So  he  made  no  more  than  a  passing  remark 
on  this  dangler  who  would  persist  in  forcing 
his  person  on  their  company,  and  at  the  first 
word  from  Marion,  who  shared  the  desire  of 
obscurity  with  him,  to  the  effect  that  her  abode 
was  not  tranquil,  he  volunteered  to  seek  one 
more  suitable. 

He  was  minutely  acquainted  with  Blois,  but 
he  had  some  difficulty  in  finding  a  house  re- 
mote and  yet  not  exposed  to  the  attack  of  the 
poachers,  also  robbers,  who  dwelt  in  the  forest 
and  plundered  isolated  dwellings  without  the 
walls. 

But  having  found  such  a  one,  he  furnished 
it,  and  spite  of  Marion's  disinclination  to  mat- 
rimony, it  was  understood  between  them  that 
thev  should  be  married  on  the  eve  of  entering 
it.  ' 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  217 

She  became  gloomy  after  this  decision,  which 
he  hoped  would  make  her  joyous,  but  she  was 
taxing  her  wits  how  to  execute  her  pari  in  the 
ceremony  under  a  false  name  and  provide  the 
necessary  papers  to  back  up  her  subterfuge. 

In  the  meantime,  Didier  engaged  rooms  at 
the  Horn  of  Hubert. 

He  was  far  from  foreseeing  that  this  house, 
so  quiet  at  the  time,  would  become  the  centre 
of  all  the  noise  in  Blois  as  soon  as  the  aristo- 
cratic party  having  Prince  Gaston's  leave  to 
hunt  in  Chambord  Forest,  should  choose  it  as 
their  resting-place. 

Hence,  nothing  was  more  untoward  for  the 
lovers,  who  had  selected  the  Horn  for  a  nest 
of  peace,  than  to  hear  not  only  the  revelry 
after  the  tumult  of  preparations  for  the  feast, 
but  the  uproar  of  the  mob  hailing  the  publica- 
tion of  the  royal  edict. 

"It  is  a  proclamation  of  some  sort,"  said 
Didier,  as  nightfall  came,  wThen  they  habitually 
took  their  strolls.  "I  will  look  at  it  and  tell 
you  as  I  return.  This  time  you  must  not  go 
out.  There  has  been  a  feast  of  some  sort  below 
and  I  see  many  a  strange  face." 

He  did  not  add  that  he  believed  that  he  had 
spied  the  Marquis  of  Saverny  among  his  Paris- 
ian friends.  Fops  wear  a  family  likeness,  as 
they  are  of  the  mode  very  modish,  and  he  might 
be  in  error.  But  the  manners  of  the  gallant 
irritated  him,  and  he  had  a  longing  to  be  quits 
with  him  for  having  entered  Marion's  apart- 
ments and  stared  at  her,  if  not  ogled  her,  in 
the  brief  space  before  he  upset  the  second 
illuminator. 

He  passed  through  the  hall  and  slowly  went 
out  upon  the  street.  No  one  noticed  him,  the 
gentlemen   being  deep  in  chat,   of  a  sombre 


218     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

kind,  thanks  to  the  late  tragic  interruption  and 
chewing  its  bitter  cud. 

For  ten  years  past,  Richelieu  had  been  pur- 
suing the  policy  inculcated  by  Brother  Joseph 
in  his  sermon  on  the  night  of  Ramire's  disap- 
pearance. The  oldest  nobles  trembled  for  their 
sons  whose  family  trees  bid  fair  to  be  trimmed 
a  la  Cardinal,  and  they  saw  with  sorrow,  min- 
gled with  indignation  that,  as  they  suffered  a 
change  and  abasement,  the  ecclesiastical,  cleri- 
cal and  legal  branches  of  the  octopus  inter- 
lacing France  were  also  pruned,  without  their 
being  advantaged. 

Didier  went  by  the  party,  half-recognizing 
Saverny,  and  took  an  unoccupied  seat  at  the 
same  table  as  Langely,  who  sipped  some  hypo- 
eras  alone,  so  dreaded  was  the  malicious  jester 
now  that  all  had  a  taste  of  his  wit. 

"The  mandate  against  duelling  is  all  very 
well,"  observed  Bouchavannes,  "if  it  bore  upon 
the  swashbucklers  and  pick-quarrels,  but  the 
tag  at  the  tail  spoils  it,  like  a  spluttering 
flourish  after  a  plain  signature." 

"What  flourish?"  said  Saverny,  absently. 

"I  mean  that  the  offenders  are  to  be  hanged!" 

"It  is  hard  to  believe  it,"  said  the  marquis. 
"The  rope  is  quite  a  correct  treatment  for  com- 
mon folk,  but  this  must  be  a  jest!" 

"Did  you  not  hear  it  read?  Well,  read  it!" 
and  he  pointed  to  the  placard  on  the  post. 

"It  is  too  far  off,"  said  the  coxcomb,  gaping, 
"and  I  am  too  fatigued  to  go  there.  Hey,"  he 
cried  half-saucily,  half-goodnaturedly  to  Did- 
ier, "you  who  are  beside  the  fool !  My  dear  fel- 
low, pray  spell  me  out  that  proclamation." 

Didier  looked,  not  at  him,  but  at  Langely, 
whom  he  heard  characterized  as  a  fool  and 
comprehended  by  the  buttons  that  he  was  at 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  219 

table  with  a  court  dignitary  more  respected 
than  many  another  functionary.  King  Louis 
did  not  laugh  often,  but  when  he  did  the  jest 
was  a  sanguinary  one. 

"You,  sir,  in  the  large  cloak!  You  are  not 
deaf,  are  you?''  said  Saverny,  piqued  at  being 
ignored. 

lie  had  not  recognized  Didier  from  the  short 
time  when  the  light  shone  upon  him  in  the 
room;  in  the  street,  he  had  not  seen  the  color 
of  his  eyes  even. 

His  voice  grated  on  Didier,  who  began  to 
recall  its  tones  of  silly  conceit  and  arrogance. 
Lilting  his  head  slowly,  he  fastened  his  gaze 
on  the  marquis,  who  might  wTell  be  daunted  by 
their  increasing  intensity,  enlarging  in  the 
dark. 

"Are  you  addressing  me?"  he  curtly  de- 
manded. 

"Nobody  else!  I  do  not  mind  paying  for 
your  refreshment  if  you  will  read  me  that 
paper  over  your  head." 

"I?" 

"You,  provided  you  can  read  writing!" 

Didier  rose  calmly,  not  as  if  eager  to  oblige 
Saverny,  but  to  enlighten  himself.  He  read 
the  document  through  without  moving  his  lips 
and  remarked  negligently,  to  his  table  com- 
panion, not  to  the  questioner: 

"It  is  a  royal  edict,  which  punishes  with  the 
gibbet  all  wielders  of  the  sword,  whether  low- 
born or  of  high  degree." 

"It  is  equality  before  the  gallows,"  said 
Langely.    "The  world  is  progressing!" 

"You  are  blundering,  good  fellow!"  said 
Saverny.  "Know  that  a  good  gentleman  is 
not  doomed  to  be  hanged.    His  privileges  for- 


220     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

bid   that!    We   have   rights  to   far   different 
deaths — only  the  base  can  be  hanged!" 

He  turned  to  his  friends,  laughing  insolently. 
"This  is  one  of  the  shopkeepers  of  Blois!  He 
is  impudent.  You  read  it  wrongly,  my  man!" 
continued  he.  "I  daresay  your  broad-brimmed 
hat  cast  a  shade  over  your  eyes!  Take  it  off, 
when  replying  to  your  betters!  You  will  read 
better  and  run  less  likelihood  of  incurring  the 
lash!    Off  with  your  hat,  sirrah!" 

Didier  took  a  step  so  hastily  and  violently 
towards  him  that  he  overturned  a  table  in  the 
way  and  the  glasses,  partly  emptied,  rolled, 
breaking,  to  Saverny's  feet,  where  the  lees 
spirted  on  him.  He  sprang  up  and  thus  con- 
fronted Didier,  who  still  marched  on. 

"Have  a  care,  sir!"  said  the  Bloisian,  willing 
to  avenge  his  enmity  against  the  marquis  on 
one  of  his  station;  "you  insult  me!  I  read 
the  proclamation  for  myself.  Now,  I  will  read 
it  for  you,  but  I  claim  to  fix  the  adequate  com- 
pensation. I  will  read  it,  sir,  but  you  must 
pay  me  in  blood!    I  will  have  your  life!" 

"Baiting"  a  citizen  was  a  sport  well  known 
to  the  courtiers,  but  rarely  had  the  game  turn- 
ed on  the  hunter  with  such  vehemence.  All 
rose  to  their  feet  and,  seeing  the  seriousness  of 
a  combat  after  this  severe  prohibition,  they 
tried  to  quiet  the  marquis. 

Didier  had  suddenly  become  cool;  some  men, 
after  the  provocation  is  launched,  are  free  of 
bile  and  in  the  best  health  for  the  sequel. 
Face  to  face  with  Saverny,  he  remembered 
him  unmistakably,  for  he  said: 

"Dam  not  making  an  error  in  one  thing!  You 
are  Nazaire,  Marquis  of  Saverny!  And  I  am 
q-thirst  for  your  blood,  d'ye  hear!" 

The  noble  laughed  in  his  face. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  221 

"He  lias  divined  my  quality!"  said  he,  sneer- 
ing. "Our  race-mark  is  imprinted  on  our  brow! 
I  guessed  be  was  of  tbe  lower  orders,  and  be 
recognises  I  am  a  lord!'' 

"On  many  a  fighting  ground,"  responded 
Didier  loftilv,  "the  blood  of  the  lowborn  and 
the  lordling  have  mingled  without  France  re- 
pudiating either!  Let  us  mingle  our  blood, 
marquis,  if  you  please!" 

"The  Edict!"  said  several  voices,  while  the 
host  and  his  waiters  blocked  up  the  door. 
"'Ware  the  Edict!" 

"Was  ever  so  much  quarrelling?"  said  the 
landlord.  "This  time,  my  good  fare  has  turned 
sour  in  the  mouth!" 

"They  did  not  take  enough  of  it,"  commented 
the  waiter.  "But  they  will  be  punished,"  add- 
ed he;  "it  looks  as  if  two  of  them  will  take 
their  parting-cup  under  the  gallows-tree!" 

Saverny  had  become  serious  at  this  stage. 

"You  are  too  hasty,  sir,"  said  he  to  the 
challenger.  "At  least,  let  this  matter  proceed 
orderly.  You  may  not  be  experienced,  but  we 
gentlemen  are  bound  to  be.  Here  are  two  sec- 
onds of  mine!" 

The  friends  looked  askant  at  each  other.  A 
duel  to  the  death,  when  the  victor  would  be 
hanged,  perhaps  threw  sharp  responsibility  on 
the  abettors.  But  Captain  Gasse  and  Villac, 
also  in  the  army,  felt  that  they  must  not  wince. 

The  marquis  took  them  by  the  hand,  as  they 
thus  stood  foremost. 

"You  see  here  the  Count  of  Gasse,  about 
whom  no  one  can  see  a  flaw!  This  is  the  Vi- 
dame  of  Villac,  champion  of  the  Sisters  of  the 
Catharine's  Wheel;  he  belongs  to  the  house 
of  La  Feuillade,  of  w?hich  the  Marquis  of  Au- 


222  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

busson  is  head.  Now  for  your  declaration!  Are 
you  a  noble?" 

"What  does  it  matter — under  this?"  said 
Didier,  touching  the  fatal  proclamation  with 
his  hand.  "I  am  a  nameless  foundling;  but 
I  have  blood  to  spill  in  exchange  for  yours!" 

"That  you  should  be  willing  to  fight  is  noth- 
ing, sir,"  returned  Saverny.  "But  a  foundling 
— that  is  another  matter.  You  may  be  offspring 
of  a  noble,  and  it  is  a  greater  evil  to  degrade 
the  son  of  a  lord  than  ennoble  a  vassal.  I  will 
cross  swords  with  you." 

This  settled,  the  seconds  would  have  little 
trouble  to  arrange  the  encounter. 

Didier  said  that  he  was  ready  at  once,  which 
made  the  bystanders  cry  that  he  was  not 
usurping  the  pretensions  to  a  high  origin. 

"He  has  not  a  sword,"  remarked  Gasse. 

He  was  not  alone  in  finding  relief  at  any 
prospect  of  a  delay,  when  Saverny  and  this 
ardent  stranger  might  cool  down. 

Langely  came  up  to  the  group  in  debate  and 
solemnly  tendered  his  sword  to  Didier,  who 
had  laid  aside  his  own  since  so  closely  attend- 
ing Marion  that  a  conflict  had  seemed  im- 
possible. 

"Take  a  fool's  sword,"  said  he  in  his  voice 
which  wavered  between  jest  and  earnest.  "To 
commit  a  folly,  it  is  just  the  thing."  And  as 
the  young  man  hesitated,  he  continued:  "It  is 
to  be  relied  on,  being  better  tempered  than  its 
master!  You  are  a  brave  fellow  and  will  do 
it  honor!"  Then,  changing  his  tone  to  his  hab- 
itual sneer,  he  concluded:  "In  exchange,  be- 
queath  me  a  bit  of  the  rope  they  hang  you 
with,  as  it  brings  the  wearer  good  luck,  you 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  223 

"Willingly,"  replied  Didier,  bitterly,  as  he 
took  and  tried  the  sword. 

Convinced  that  he  had,  indeed,  a  good  blade, 
he  turned  to  the  marquis,  who  felt  a  vague  im- 
pression that  they  were  not  strangers,  and  said 
in  a  clear  voice: 

"Heaven  be  merciful  to  the  deserving!" 

Brichanteau  clapped  his  hands,  like  a  school- 
bov,  and  exclaimed  iovouslv: 

"It  will  be  a  handsome  encounter,  and  that 
is  delightful!" 

"Where  do  we  stand?"  inquired  Saverny. 

"Under  the  lantern,"  rejoined  Brichanteau. 

Villac  shook  his  head. 

"You  must  be  out  of  your  wits,"  protested 
Gasse;  ''you  cannot  see  with  the  shadow  of 
your  own  person!  You  will  scratch  out  one 
another's  eyes  instead  of  piercing  a  limb." 

"It  will  be  light  enough  for  bloodshed!"  said 
Didier  moroselv. 

"Well  said,"  cried  Saverny. 

"The  swords  should  send  out  sparks  enough 
to  light  up  the  field,"  went  on  Didier  as  Lange- 
ly  also  was  about  to  interfere. 

The  two  combatants  threw  down  their  cloaks 
and  hats  after  having  saluted  each  other.  Did- 
ier held  the  borrowed  sword  in  hand;  the 
marquis  drew  his.  They  fell  on  guard  by  the 
post. 

"Waiting  for  you,  sir!"  said  the  noble. 

"Not  long!    I  am  ready!"   was  the  reply. 

The  seconds  kept  silent.  In  the  stillness  the 
steel  was  heard  grating  and  clicking,  while 
the  fencers  seemed  to  mark  time  with  their 
feet,  which  nearly  touched. 

This  time,  Didier  had  another  antagonist 
altogether  than  a  Malargue;  that  was  a  brute 
who  only  sought  to  win  at  any  hasard.     But 


224  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE'/ 

the  aristocratic  gentleman  would  have  felt  dis- 
honored if  he  did  not  kill  his  opponent  accord- 
ing to  the  etiquette  of  the  fencing-schools. 
Swordsmanship  being  a  main  chapter  in  a 
nobleman's  book  of  training,  Saverny,  fop 
though  he  was,  gave  a  good  portion  of  his  time 
regularly  to  its  practice.  It  followed  that  Di- 
dier  made  little  headway,  spite  of  his  impa- 
tience and  resentment  against  his  contender. 
The  courtiers  shared  the  feelings  of  their  cham- 
pion, regarding  the  agile  leaps  out  of  reach,  the 
shifting  of  footing,  the  well-parried  thrusts  and 
lunges,  all  as  part  of  a  game.  It  was  to  the 
fighting  in  which  Didier  had  figured  at  Blois, 
what  angling  is  to  fishing. 

As  the  bystanders  applauded  in  a  suppressed 
voice,  encouraging  the  combat,  and  Didier 
boiled  over  with  rage  at  the  prolixity,  what 
he  dreaded  came  to  pass. 

Marion,  left  alone  by  her  lover,  had  opened 
the  window  after  a  while  to  look  at  the  stars, 
when  the  clink  of  weapons  and  the  two  men 
under  the  lantern  light,  with  the  surrounding 
spectators,  naturally  drew  her  attention  down- 
wards. She  was  not  a  minute  recognising  Di- 
dier at  swords-point  with  the  marquis.  She 
conjectured  that  they  had  met  and  that  her 
beloved  had  seized  the  opportunity  to  punish 
the  gallant  for  intruding  on  her  presence. 

She  sprang  up,  drew  a  mantle  about  her  and 
ran  down  the  stairs.  At  the  foot  she  over- 
turned the  head  waiter,  who  was  peeping  out 
at  the  door,  held  ajar,  instead  of  going  up  to 
his  couch. 

At  the  instant  of  her  appearance,  Saverny 
had  received  a  slight  wound  in  the  sword-arm; 
he  retaliated  by  a  well-launched  thrust  which 
threatened  to  transpierce  his  opponent.     But 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  225 

that  was  the  nick  when  Marion  dashed  out  of 
the  doorway.  Seeing — apparently — that  Di- 
dier  would  be  stricken  to  the  heart,  she  flung 
her  cloak  upon  the  sword,  which  diverted  the 
line,  and  uttered  a  piercing  scream. 

"Stop!     Didier!     God  be  good!" 

But  the  two  shook  off  the  mantle,  and  re- 
turned to  the  charge,  both  recognising  the  in- 
tervener and  emboldened  by  her  presence. 

But  in  the  quiet  that  scream  resounded  far. 
Down  the  street  the  steel  heads  of  the  archers' 
halberds  shone  as  a  patrol  of  the  watch  came 
out  from  under  the  arches  of  St.  Nicholas,  and 
Bouchavannes,  having  his  sword  drawn  to 
knock  aside  foul  blows,  beat  down  his  friend's 
blade. 

"All  is  lost!     Here  comes  the  watch!" 

A  red  glow  burst  forth  above  the  steel 
points.  The  archer  beside  the  captain  of  the 
squad  had  revived  a  torch  by  swinging  it  in 
the  air  after  beating  its  head  against  a  horse- 
block. 

The  soldiers  must  have  distinctly  seen  the 
two  men  crossing  swords,  for  they  came  on  a- 
pace.  They  had  the  new  edict  on  their  mind. 
Blois  piqued  itself  to  act  upon  it  before  Paris 
did. 

"You  cannot  run,"  whispered  Brichanteau. 
"Pretend  to  be  wounded  to  the  death!" 

The  marquis  had  to  acknowledge  that  this 
advice  could  not  be  improved  upon.  He 
dropped  as  though  shot,  and  Brichanteau  half- 
enveloped  him  with  the  mantle  which  Marion 
had  thrown  into  the  arena  with  the  effect  of 
a  red  flag  on  a  bull. 

The  noble  uttered  a  very  genuine  groan  of 
pain,  for  the  stones  were  hard,  and  he  had  exe- 
cuted the  mock  fall  with  that  conscientious- 


226     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

ness  which  makes  a  good  actor  black  and  blue 
under  the  similar  circumstances. 

Didier  glanced  toward  the  noble  and  paused, 
indecisive,  under  the  belief  that  he  had  slain 
his  opponent. 

Eunning  up  at  the  head  of  his  men,  though 
hampered  by  his  spurs,  insignia  of  knighthood, 
for  he  never  rode  a  horse  within  the  citv  walls, 
the  Ward-and- Watch  Captain  shouted: 

"Hold,  in  the  King's  name!" 

"You  had  better  save  the  marquis!"  said 
Count  Gasse,  careless  about  what  military  dis- 
cipline enjoined  upon  him.  "He  is  a  dead  man, 
if  they  take  him!" 

"Stop,  gentlemen!"  cried  the  captain,  as  the 
seconds   surrounded    Savernv,  in   so    stern  a 

€/     7 

voice  that  they  checked  the  disposition  to  lift 
him  up.  "This  is  going  too  far  for  a  joke! 
Odsbodkins!  They  choose,  to  fight  a  duel,  the 
very  light  that  showed  our  proclamation 
against  hostile  encounters  under  penalty  of 
death  by  hanging!  The  impudence!  But  I  see 
they  are  the  Parisians!  I  might  be  sure  that 
our  good  Bloisians  would  not  act  so  scanda- 
lously." 

Still  Didier  stood  irresolute;  Marion's  inter- 
vention had  unmanned  him,  for  jealousy  sug- 
gested that  she  had  rushed  between  rather  to 
shield  the  marquis  from  punishment  than  on 
behalf  of  himself. 

"Surrender,"  said  the  watch-officer,  thinking 
he  meant  resistance  and  holding  out  his  left 
hand  for  his  sword.     "Give  up  your  rapier!" 

"Stav!"  said  Langelv  drilv,  taking  the  sword 
from  Didier's  hand  with  a  strong  wresting  mo- 
tion; "it  is  mv  blade!  If  vou  reallv  want  it, 
apply  to  the  King,  whose  jester  I  am." 

The  captain  ordered  his  men  to  seize  Didier 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  227 

and  went  over  to  the  spot  where  Saverny  was 
stretched  out,  unmoving,  partly  under  a  table 
and  partly  shrouded  in  the  mantle.  His  eyes 
were  opened  but  they  seemed  without  a  spark 
of  intelligence.  Langely  might  have  said  that 
this  trait  was  not  remarkable  in  a  court  gal- 
lant, but  the  captain  thought  that  the  man 
was  dead. 

"Who  was  this?"  asked  he,  bending  down. 

"This  was  Nazaire,"  said  Brichanteau,  enter- 
ing into  the  spirit  of  the  deception  with  avid- 
ity, "Marquis  of  Saverny,  whose  uncle  is  the 
Marquis  of  Xangis.     He  is  a  royal  page." 

"He  is  dead,"  said  Gasse,  with  the  air  of  one 
who  had  seen  many  mortal  wounds. 

"This  is  Captain  Gasse,  come  to  join  your 
garrison,"  added  Villac;  "you  can  take  his 
word  for  it.  He  is  a  veteran  of  the  Italian 
frontier  wars,  though  yet  a  young  man." 

"Dead,  is  he?"  repeated  the  captain;  "that 
is  so  much  the  better;  it  will  save  those  law 
fellows  from  writing  out  a  charge  as  long  as 
my  arm  against  him.  He  has  died  handsomely, 
which  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  what  will 
befall  the  other!  Ugh!  Hanging!  Ah,  it  will 
be  a  great  day  for  Blois  to  see  a  gentleman 
hanged,  like  a  deer-stealer!" 

Pushed  aside  and  jostled  by  the  gentlemen 
and  the  archers,  Marion  had  witnessed  the 
hurried  proceedings  with  a  wondering  eye. 
She  had  not  half  comprehended  the  solemnity 
of  the  occasion,  for  she  knew  that,  heretofore, 
duels  were  as  common  among  young  men  as 
sarabbands.  But  she  was  frightened  now  on 
hearing  that  Savernv  was  dead,  by  her  lover's 
hand,  spite  of  her  intermediation.  She  per- 
haps had  saved  Didier  by  her  flinging  the  cloak 
on  the  blades,  but  for  what? 


228     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

The  captain  of  the  archers  seemed  to  think 
the  marquis'  death  was  enviable! 

The  landlord  of  the  inn,  with  his  waiters, 
most  of  them  wearing  nightcaps  as  showing 
that  they  had  not  had  a  hand  in  the  unlawful 
meeting,  crowded  the  doors  and  windows. 
They  looked  on  with  awe  as  the  marquis' 
friends  lifted  him  up  and  carried  him  away  in 
Marion's  mantle,  laid  on  a  rude  litter  impro- 
vised of  the  top  of  a  table  which  they  kicked 
to  pieces,  without  asking  the  host's  leave. 

Marion  tried  to  approach  Didier,  but  he  was 
surrounded  three-deep  by  the  archers,  who  had 
a  high  idea  of  their  capture  since  he  was  the 
slayer  of  a  marquis  and  the  elect  for  the  halter. 

"Farewell,  Marie!"  said  he,  over  their  heads 
and  between  their  halberds,  "farewell,  and  for- 
get me!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  229 


CHAPTER  XV. 

BLACK  AND  GREY. 

Petrified  by  terror,  all  the  more  deep  as  it 
was  as  yet  incomprehensible,  Marion  Delorme, 
repulsed  by  the  rear  file  of  the  watch,  fell  in 
a  swoon  in  a  chair  by  the  table  where  Langely 
coolly  finished  his  glass,  still  warm,  of  honeyed 
drink.  He  knew  her  well  and  stayed  by  her, 
therefore.  The  host  and  his  assistants  re- 
mained indoors,  fearful  of  compromising  them- 
selves by  succoring  the  companion  of  a  rash- 
brained  youth  who  contravened  so  deadly  a 
mandate. 

"Why  did  Didier  say  farewell  in  that  lament- 
able voice  of  despair,"  murmured  she,  reviving 
in  the  cold  night  wind  off  the  river,  and  she 
looked  around.  The  red  flare  of  the  torch  was 
dying  away  in  the  direction  of  the  Castle. 
"Why  did  he  bid  me  forget  him?" 

Xo  one  but  the  tall  man  in  black  velvet  was 
on  the  open  space.  All  was  in  glaring  con- 
trast to  its  animation  after  the  banquet  and 
even  during  the  silent  duel. 

"Sir,"  said  she,  almost  fearing  that  this  grave 
person  was  a  phantom,  "what  has  that  young 
man  done,  and  what  are  thev  going  to  do  with 
him?" 

Langely  took  her  by  the  hand,  and  she  felt 
his  trembled  in  hers — whether  because  she  was 
icy  cold  or  out  of  compassion.  He  caused  her 
to  rise  and  tetter,  upheld  by  his  grip,  to  the 
post  where  he  said :     "Read !" 


230     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Though  scarcely  in  her  senses,  she  ran  her 
sight  over  the  paper  and  comprehended  that 
death  awaited  duellists. 

"Just  heavens!"  she  exclaimed,  snatching 
away  her  hand  and  clasping  it  with  the  other. 
"They  have  taken  him  hence,  therefore,  to  do 
him  to  death!" 

Langely  nodded. 

"They  were  fighting,  yet  it  might  have  ended 
without  any  one  knowing  but  for  my  coming 
between  and  rousing  the  town — bringing  the 
watch  by  my  calls!  I  was  calling  for  help, 
sir,"  she  went  on  piteously,  "because  I  feared 
that  he  might  be  killed — whose  life  is  dearer 
to  me  than  my  own !" — 

"Saverny,  Marion?"  girded  Langely. 

"Oh,  I  know  vou — bv  vour  biting  voice!  You 
are  the  royal  merrymaker!" 

"I  am  Langely,  at  your  orders,  fair  Marion!" 

"No.  It  is  the  other,  Didier,  that  I  love! 
Not  one  of  these  tears  are  for  the  beau  whom 
he  slew!  For  he  slew  that  annoying  fop,  did 
he  not?" 

"The  marquis'  friends  bore  him  hence  as  one 
dead,  certainlv,"  rejoined  the  jester,  evasivelv. 

"What's  his  life?  A  butterfly's!  Pinned  to 
a  tree  by  an  idle  schoolboy!  But  Didier,  noble, 
intelligent,  brave — oh!  that  his  breath  should 
be  stopped  by  a  halter!  Never!  To  think  that 
I  summoned  death  out  of  the  netherworld  by 
my  screams!  Impossible!  But  since  when  is 
a  duel,  crossing  of  swords  in  the  hands  of  men 
accustomed  to  them  as  women  to  the  broider- 
ing-bodkin  or  the  distaff!  since  when  is  duelling 
a  crime?" 

"Our  Minister  lost  a  dearly  beloved  brother 
by  the  duelling  sword,  they  say,  and  so  he  hates 
the  hasty  argument  of  steel." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  231 

"Will  they  try  him?    Will  they  doom  him?" 

"My  dear  .Mniioii,  they  will  try  him!  The 
lawyers  will  never  lose  the  opportunity  to  in- 
augurate the  action  of  the  new  command  when 
one  of  the  victims  was  a  martinis!" 

"Where  did  they  take  him?" 

"To  prison." 

"But  the  cage  in  these  country  towns — the 
warders — with  nionev?"  stammered  Marion, 
too  hurried  in  her  ideas  to  express  them  con- 
secutively and  in  full. 

"Well,  1  daresay  one  could  extricate  a  pris- 
oner from  the  guardhouse,  but  this  is  a  special 
prisoner,  taken  in  infringement  of  the  royal  de- 
cree!    They  will  lodge  him  in  the  Castle!" 

"Well,  people  escape  from  castles!"  said  Mar- 
ion with  a  return  of  hope. 

She  had  seen  nobles  return  to  the  world  who 
had,  like  Bassompierre  or  Beaufort,  hydra- 
heads  of  rebellion,  obtained  release  from  even 
the  Bastile. 

"You  do  not  know  Blois  Castle,"  returned 
Langely,  with  pity.  "Like  that  of  Nantes,  one 
may  say  that  they  who  built  it  wanted  a  strong 
shell  outside  their  consciences!"' 

Marion  was  not  listening. 

She  blamed  herself  for  all ;  but  for  her  link- 
ing herself  with  this  youth,  whose  life  was 
previously  unspotted  with  blood,  he  would  not 
be  imprisoned  for  the  crime. 

"It  is  because  of  my  faults,"  she  muttered. 
"Heaven  is  striking  me,  through  him.  Boor 
Didier!  Langely,  just  think  that  I  esteem 
nothing  too  good  or  sweet  for  that  young  man, 
and  they  award  him  the  dungeon  and  the  scaf- 
fold! Perhaps  they  will  torture  him,  for  has 
In-  not  slain  a  noble?" 

"Unless  he  confesses  he  was  wrong  to  cross 


232     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  royal  word,  I  doubt  not  they  will  put  him 
to  the  torture!" 

k'I  will  go  back  to  Paris — I  will  appeal  to 
the  King!" 

"He  has  a  right  royal  heart,  my  master!" 
said  Langely.  "But  read!"  and  he  rapped  the 
paper  which  gave  a  funereal  sound  like  the 
dry  wing  of  a  bat. 

'•His  right  to  pardon  is  waived?"  said  Mar- 
ion despairingly. 

"Yes;  still  you  might  see  him." 

"Will  you  present  me?" 

"Willingly,  poor  child!  But  I  cannot  intro- 
duce you  to  the  Cardinal." 

"No?     And  then—" 

"The  Cardinal  countersigned  that  edict.  It 
is  a  capital  offence,  and  those  wTho  offend  must 
roll  down  the  fatal  declivity." 

"Horrible,"  said  she,  shuddering.  "You  fill 
me  with  the  chill  of  the  grave!  Away!  I 
want  nothing  of  you  all!  I  am  vile,  infamous, 
shameful!  But  all  that  a  woman  can  do  shall 
be  done  for  him  in  tribulation!" 

Langely  watched  her  depart,  with  an  un- 
steady step,  in  the  direction  whither  Didier  had 
been  led,  and  putting  up  his  sword,  the  instru- 
ment of  so  much  distress,  said  to  himself: 

"Life  is  a  jest!  But  never,  in  my  rare,  gay 
moments,  did  I  imagine  that  Marion  Delorme, 
the  courted  of  her  sex,  would  implore  the  royal 
buffoon  for  the  life  of  man!  She  who  has  had 
so  many  break  their  hearts,  empty  their  purses 
and  besmirch  their  names  for  hopeless  love  of 
her." 

He  looked  after  the  form  in  white,  un- 
mantled,  wending  its  tottering  way  toward  the 
vast  Castle,  of  which  the  high  walls  had  been 
witness  of  so  manv  memorable  events. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  333 

"A  white  ;uit  that  ventures  against  a  granite 
rock!"  commented  he.  "Whom  does  sin-  ven- 
ture so  much  for?  'Didier.'  A  name  of  no 
sense.  But  an  uncommon  man!  Brave  as  in y 
sword,  which  I  shall  treasure  for  his  having 
wielded  it.  Whom  did  he  look  like  as  he  stood 
up  against  the  flippant  Saverny?  He  wore  a 
royal  air — such  innate  nobilitv  as  his  cannot 
be  hidden  under  the  bushel  of  'Didier.' ' 

"What  name  do  vou  utter,  mv  good  friend 
Langely?" 

The  jester  started.  Without  any  sound  a 
man  had  come  round  the  post  and  stood  next 
him.     He  was  attired  in  a  grey  robe. 

"Brother  Joseph?"  exclaimed  the  jester,  with 
a  reverence  so  low  as  not  to  be  accorded  to 
higher  dignitaries  of  the  realm. 

"What  did  you  say  about  Didier — a  young 
man  of  Blois,  whose  acquaintance  you  only 
could  have  made  by  accident?" 

The  royal  jester  had  to  be  keen-sighted,  since 
one  who  jokes  at  all  the  world  must  make 
enemies.  He  had  long  ago  judged  the  Cardi- 
nal's right  hand  man  correctly.  To  him  Joseph 
was  not  a  hypocrite  in  religion,  a  canting  poli- 
tician or  a  kind  of  ogre. 

He  perceived  that  his  attachment  to  his 
master,  to  the  kingdom  and  to  religion  was 
sincere. 

What  the  jester  liked  in  him  most  was  his 
intrepid  spirit,  of  which  few  of  the  court  in- 
triguers possessed  the  like. 

He  had  already  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
Didier  was  the  son  of  some  exalted  personage, 
and  this  interest  of  tin1  Confessor  of  the  Prime 
Minister  confirmed  his  view. 

He  answered,  with  a  softening  of  his  voice, 
so  that  Joseph  could  understand  all  that  hap- 


234     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

pened  before  the  Horn  of  St.  Hubert  since  the 
banquet. 

"Saverny  has  been  persecuting  Marion?''  said 
the  Capuchin,  summing  up.  "He  followed  her 
here,  and  seeing  that  she  had  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  this  Didier,  picked  a  quarrel 
with  him,  although  Didier  had  saved  his  life? 
Tt  is  fortunate  for  the  shallow-pate  that  he 
was  slain!" 

"What  warmth!"  thought  Langely.  "To  be 
sure,  Saverny  is  no  great  friend  of  mine,  but 
I  am  not  going  to  deliver  him  to  this  tiger  in 
grey,  by  revealing  that  I  think  his  fall  and 
death  a  sham!  Let  us  dry  Marion's  tears,  for 
I  am  badlv  out  in  mv  forecast  unless  the  Ca- 
puchin  can  shield  Didier  better  with  his  gown 
than  Marion  with  her  mantle!" 

He  went  on  to  relate  that  the  watch  had 
come  and,  while  permitting  the  marquis' 
friends  to  carry  away  his  lifeless  body,  had 
borne  the  other  antagonist  to  the  Castle  as  a 
royal  prisoner. 

"Marion  has  followed,  eh?"  said  Joseph. 
"Do  you  think  that,  at  length,  she  is  capable 
of  a  true  passion?" 

"She  loves  this  man,"  replied  the  jester  simp- 
ly. "Who  saves  her  adorer  will  make  her  his 
debtor  for  life.  And  Marion,  in  these  times  of 
plot  and  marplot,  is  not  to  be  scoffed  at!" 

The  Capuchin  did  not  remark  on  this  sug- 
gestion, but  abruptly  said: 

"Langely,  you  lent  this  young  man  your 
sword,  did  you?  Ah,  listen  to  what  I  say: 
It  may  be  that  your  sword  will  stand  you  in 
better  stead  with  the  Cardinal  for  its  loan 
than  your  bauble  with  the  King!" 

With  this    enigmatical  sentence    the  monk 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  235 

took  the  road  travelled  by  Didier  under  escort, 
and  by  his  mourning  flame. 

"Mischief  on  these  plotters  and  planners, 
with  their  oracular  riddles;"  muttered  the  jes- 
ter, fingering  his  swordhilt  nervously.  "They 
spoil  one's  digestion  and  they  torment  the 
brain.  I  shall  die  a  Cardinalist,  I  prophesy, 
though  most  of  my  life  a  King's  man  when, 
the  saints  know,  few  are  the  King's  men,  and 
inconstant  they!  Let  me  see:  There  has  been 
a  favorite  for  each  of  my  bells!  He  took  a 
fancy  for  his  coachdriver,  his  trainer  of  the 
hounds,  Luynes  because  he  taught  him  hawk- 
ing, Bautru  because  he  carried  him  on  his  back 
over  a  puddle  in  the  Tuileries  gardens — and  all 
cost  him  a  pretty  penny.  I  cost  him  nothing, 
for  mv  salary  is  alwavs  behindhand.  They 
tried  to  amuse  him,  not  being  fools!  And  I, 
seeing  that  he  will  always  be  a  morose  king, 
keep  him  low-tuned!  You  will  see  that  I  will 
be  his  favorite  to  the  death!  That  is  why  the 
Cardinal,  through  Brother  Joseph,  seeks  to 
suborn  me!  I  think  that  I  have  done  the  best 
night's  work  of  them  all  by  helping  this  Didier 
to  teach  Master  Saverny  a  lesson!  Only,  is 
he  a  protege  of  Joseph  or  Armand?  This  is 
to  be  ascertained." 

But  he  seemed  to  bear  enough  on  his  brain 
at  the  moment.  He  was  going  to  a  room  lie 
had  prudently  retained  at  the  Barleycorn  Hos- 
telry, when  an  old  woman  accosted  him. 

"Bray  you,  sir,"  said  she  whiningly,  "were 
you  not  among  those  Parisian  gentlemen  who 
dined  at  the  Hubert's  Horn?" 

The  jester  nodded  and  disengaged  his  cloak 
from  her  thin,  wiry  fingers. 

"Then  vou  would  know  Mademoiselle  Mar- 
ion?" 


236     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Marion  Delorme?"  said  he  surprised.  "Cer- 
tainly, I  know  Mademoiselle  Marion!  Who 
does  not?" 

"Is  she  stopping  at  the  Horn?" 

Langely  reflected. 

"Why  do  you  inquire  about  her?"  said  he 
guardedly. 

"Because  I  was  her  woman,  and  she  left, 
in  a  hurried  departure  from  her  old  quarters 
by  Old  Street,  a  casket  of  jewelry  which  I  be- 
lieye  she  will  not  be  sorry  to  see  again." 

"You  pursue  her  to  restore  jewelry?  Ye 
stars  and  planets!  look  down  on  this  duenna 
who  does  not  lay  up  her  mistress's  valuables 
for  her  own  old  age!  My  pretty  one,"  con- 
tinued he,  "if  you  will  follow  your  nose  as  it 
points,  to-wit,  downwards,  you  will  arrive  at 
the  Castle.  Mademoiselle  Marion  is  at  its 
gates,  trying  to  coax  the  governor  to  admit  her 
to  see  her  gallant,  locked  up  there." 

"Master  Didier  locked  up?" 

"Have  you  not  heard  that  he  has  been  fight- 
ing a  duel,  contrary  to  the  express  command 
of  the  King,  countersigned  by  the  Cardinal?" 

"I  heard  that  there  was  a  great  to-do  at  the 
inn,  but — why  do  you  stare  so!  If  I  were  a 
young  woman,  sir — " 

"Oh,  you  remind  me — who  the  deuce  do  you 
remind  me  of?  But,  no  matter!  The  Witch 
of  Endor,  I  suppose,"  he  added  to  himself  as 
Rose,  for  it  was  she,  hurried  toward  the  point 
indicated.  "Ever  since  I  consulted  that  sor- 
ceress of  the  Blanchapelle  Lane,  witches  have 
been  my  dreams.  This  old  hag — whom  does 
she  look  like!" 

At  the  door  he  paused,  clapped  his  hand  to 
his  forehead  and  said,  as  he  went  up  the  stairs 
in  the  dark: 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  237 

"Laffemas!  the  Cardinal's  protege!  Laffe- 
mas,  Master  of  Requests!  Lieutenant-Criminal! 
Secretary  to  the  Council  in  another  week,  may- 
hap.      Could  she  be  his  grandam?      Ah,  all 

these  rogues  have  a  family  likeness.  For  Laf- 
femas is  a  rogue!  and  I  doubt  I  did  Marion  a 
good  turn  by  directing  this  harridan  to  where 
she  weeps!  All  is  one,  in  the  end!  Of  them 
all,  I  think  I  shall  sleep  the  soundest!" 

Indeed,  in  ten  minutes  he  was  snoring  like 
an  old  boar  in  his  wallow. 

In  the  meantime  the  Capuchin  had  reached 
the  princely  fortalice  in  whose  records  feasts, 
tournaments,  marriages  and  crimes  of  the  high 
and  mighty  were  mingled. 

Marion  was  in  the  shadow,  wreeping,  as 
Langely  had  conjectured,  like  Valentina  of  Mi- 
lan deploring  there  for  her  husband  assassi- 
nated by  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  or  Isabel  of 
Bavaria  bewailing  the  loss  of  her  Chevalier 
Bois-Bourdon. 

Her  historical  reading  was  superficial,  but 
she  had  heard,  from  those  almost  the  contem- 
poraries, of  the  Duke  of  Guise  butchered  by  the 
orders  of  Henry  the  III.  That  gory  memory 
made  her  shudder. 

She  had  been  warned  off  by  the  sentinel  who, 
by  order,  blew  the  flame  of  his  arquebuss 
mat  eh,  and  threatened  to  shoot  if  she  ap- 
proached the  gate. 

She  retired  into  a  natural  niche  where  the 
crumbling  stone  had  fallen  out,  and  continued 
her  profound  sorrowing. 

At  this  time,  how  far  from  possible  realisa- 
tion was  the  prophecy  of  the  witch  of  Paris, 
that  she  was  destined  to  be  happy  with  the 
unfortunate  young  man  whose  love  for  her  had 


238  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE;' 

led  to   his  incarceration   within  that  gloomy 
edifice? 

Joseph  easily  discovered  her,  but  the  appear- 
ance of  Dame  Rose,  an  unwonted  apparition 
after  dark  in  the  city,  caused  him  to  draw 
back.  A  pile  of  stone  and  wood  for  repara- 
tion afforded  him  a  shelter  and  the  old  woman 
passed  him,  unconscious  of  a  third  person  at 
this  odd  interview. 

"Dame  Rose!"  said  Marion  when  the  woman's 
skinny  finger  was  laid  on  her  arm. 

"Rose?"  muttered  the  monk.  "This  is  her 
old  servant  in  her  former  lodgings.  What 
fidelity!  to  come  out  on  her  aged  feet  after 
the  curfew!  There  are  still  faithful  servants, 
then!" 

Faithful  or  not,  Rose  did  not  say  a  word 
about  the  mislaying  of  jewels  which  she  had 
pretended  to  Langely,  prompted  her  to  follow 
her  mistress. 

"I  heard  that  there  was  a  duel  fought  un- 
der the  windows  of  the  Hubert,  and  that  the 
guards  took  hither  the  survivor  of  the  affair. 
Who  is  it,  mistress?  The  splendid  gallant 
from  Paris,  or  the  moody  youth  of  Blois?" 

"Didier  is  in  there,"  replied  Marion  with  an 
effort  to  be  calm.  "Rose,  you  are  no  innocent, 
and  you  have  attained  a  ripe  age.  How  may 
one,  with  money  and  influence,  obtain  an  in- 
terview with  a  prisoner!  or  at  least  convey 
him  a  letter  of  cheer?" 

Rose  meditated.  At  least,  here  was  a 
chance  of  transferring  still  more  to  her  store 
from  Marion's. 

"Oh,  I  have  a  long  acquaintance  with  Blois," 
returned  she,  in  a  cheery  voice.  "I  must  know, 
to  speak  with,  several  of  the  prison  warders." 

"Ah!"  said  Marion,  in  a  sanguine  tone. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  239 

"Write  the  note  you  spoke  of,  and  I  will  un- 
dertake to  pass  it  inside  there,  spite  of  the 
sentinel  and  his  smoking  firearm!" 

"I  dislike  leaving  the  gate  where  he  went  in,'' 
said  the  mourner,  "but  where  can  I  go  to  write, 
at  this  hour?" 

"J  went  to  my  own  cottage,  after  you  freed 
me  of  your  service,"  said  the  old  woman.  "It 
is  not  far,  though  without  the  walls.  Have 
no  fear;  nothing  will  be  done  till  daylight,  and 
I  think  that,  as  he  has  transgressed  a  royal 
edict,  they  will  send  down  judges  from  Paris. 
All  this  takes  time,"  said  she  judiciously,  "and 
with  time,  and  money,  which,  you  say,  3*011 
have,  much  may  be  done." 

"Good !  you  restore  me  hope,  my  good  Rose," 
cried  Marion,  taking  her  by  the  hand.  "To 
your  cottage!  If  only  I  can  send  him  a  few 
lines  during  the  day!" 

"You  will  be  remarked  in  your  white  dress," 
said  the  woman;  "take  my  overskirt  which  is 
black,  and  throw  it  over  your  shoulders  for  a 
cloak.  Pray  heaven  that  we  do  not  meet  any 
prowlers,  though,  heaven  wot!  they  are  quiet 
since  your  brave  young  gentleman  gave  them 
a  thrashing  and  broke  their  captain's  neck. 
La !  How  deceiving  these  quiet  young  men  are ! 
To  think  that  he  killed  a  valorous  robber  and 
this  evening,  struck  down  a  noble  of  the  court 
without  more  ceremony  than  a  glutton  wrings 
the  neck  of  a  prawn!" 

The  monk  had  seen  and  heard  all  this.  He 
followed  the  pair  stealthily  but  it  was  so  lonely 
without  the  walls  that  he  could  not  fail  to  be 
seen  by  the  sharp-eyed  Rose,  however  inatten- 
tive was  her  companion. 

"That  is  my  house,"  said  the  woman.  "Go 
right  on  to  it,  and  open  the  latch.     I  will  rejoin 


240  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

you  instantly.  I  wish  to  see  that  vou  are  not 
dogged  by  this  shadow  of  grey,  creeping  like 
a  monstrous  mole  in  our  rear." 

While  Marion  obeyed,  too  sorrowful  to  act 
otherwise  than  mechanically,  but  a  little  alle- 
viated by  this  semblance  of  a  friend — one  who 
had  seen  Didier  and  could  talk  about  him,  at 
least !  the  brave  old  woman  resolutely  returned 
in  her  road. 

But  the  Capuchin  had  time  to  execute  a 
slight  change  in  his  apparel.  He  did  it  in 
the  cover  of  a  pile  of  ruins,  a  bastion  demol- 
ished under  the  royal  decree  concerning  use- 
less forts.  He  had  simply  turned  his  grey 
frock  insideout  and  he  appeared  now  as  a  black 
friar,  or  Dominican,  to  the  puzzled  eyes  of  Rose. 

It  was  he  took  the  lead  in  challenging. 

"Who  are  you,  citizen  or  stranger,  and  what 
are  you  doing  at  this  hour  under  the  walls?" 

Rose  stammered,  woman-like,  questioningly: 

"I  am  an  old  citizen,  and  I  ought  to  know 
you?     Who  are  you,  reverend  father?" 

"Ah,  a  devout  woman?"  said  he  less  sternly. 
"I  was  afraid  that  I  had  fallen  among  robbers, 
especially  as  you  had  a  young  woman  with 
you,  and  robbers  employ  such  as  decoys.  But 
you  would  not  intend  harm  to  one  of  my  cloth, 
particularly  as  I  have  been  without  the 
walls  on  an  errand  of  mercy.  One  of  the  rob- 
bers who  waylaid  the  Marquis  of  Saverny,  not 
so  many  nights  ago  that  it  can  have  slipped 
the  recollection  of  'an  old  citizen/  was  lodged 
in  the  Castle.  He  is  dying  of  a  wound  received 
in  the  affray  from  a  gentleman  named  Didier. 
It  appears  that  this  rogue,  a  play-actor  in  his 
less  dishonest  path,"  continued  the  garrulous 
friar  with  an  ill-disguised  sneer,  "cut  the  purse 
of  Master  Didier  during  the  affray.     I  would 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  241 

Dot  receive  his  confession,  you  understand, 
while  he  held  the  wages  of  crime;  and  so  he 
gave  me  the  purse,  barring  what  the  warders 
squeezed  out,  to  be  returned  to  this  Didier, 
whose  pardon  he  entreats." 

"The  prison?  Are  you  al (ached  to  the 
Castle  prison?"  queried  Rose,  fixing  her  eyes 
on  the  speaker. 

Notwithstanding  the  twilight,  not  so  dark 
along  the  river,  both  studied  each  other,  and 
came  to  accurate  conclusions. 

"This  is  a  sharp  priest!"  said  the  woman. 

"This  is  a  deep  villain,"  said  the  monk. 

"Since  this  evening,  only,"  glibly  returned 
the  latter.  "I  came  down  by  the  carrier's  wa- 
gon; you  would  not  have  me  travel  post  haste, 
would  you,  sworn  to  poverty  as  I  am?  I  might 
have  travelled  in  better  style,"  he  added,  sigh- 
ing, as  if  not  altogether  cut  off  from  mundane 
luxuries,  "if  I  had  agreed  to  say  I  was  chap- 
lain to  Captain  the  Count  de  Gasse,  who  comes 
here  to  join  the  garrison,  but  I  could  not  re- 
peat such  a  falsehood!" 

Rose  sighed  and  nodded  sympathetically. 

"Besides,  in  the  wagon,  pillowed  on  straw, 
it  was  perhaps  as  comfortable  as  using  the 
chaise,  for  the  captain  would  have  kept  it  on 
the  gallop,  like  he  does  his  horse." 

"So  you  are  attached  to  the  prison?"'  re- 
peated the  old  woman,  obstinately. 

"My  duties  commence  to-morrow.  I  am  vi- 
car to  the  chaplain.  But  I  am  happy  to  say." 
he  went  on  self-sufficiently,  "that  when  they 
pension  off  the  present  incumbenl — " 

"Father  Eusebius?" 

"That  is  it.  I  am  sure  of  the  office,  for  T, 
look  you,  good  woman,  am  the  appointee  of  the 
new  Master  of  the  Court  of  Requests — " 


242  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"M.  Laffemas,  your  friend?"  cried  Rose  with 
animation. 

"My  friend!  why,  I  am  his  instructor  in  poli- 
tics! Thanks  to  Father  Luc,  his  'good-htck,' 
he,  he!  He  has  risen  rapidly!  No  longer  will 
they  call  him  'the  Cardinal's  Headsman,'  as 
they  say  Father  Joseph  is  his  'Headman' — an- 
other jest  of  mine!  he,  he!  At  the  next  pro- 
motion given  him,  I  will  be  chaplain  to  the 
castle,  you  will  see!" 

While  he  was  rubbing  his  hands  in  almost 
childish  glee,  Rose  muttered: 

"A  protege  of  my  grandson's!  Good,  good! 
It  is  a  fine  thing  to  have  a  friend  in  the  pris- 
on!   All  is  going  well!" 

Beaming  with  satisfaction,  she  gave  a  faint 
chuckle  and  said,  aloud: 

"Father  Luc,  you  are  in  the  way  to  fill  up 
your  alms-purse,  and  do  a  kindness  to  a  lady 
who,  I  have  grounds  for  believing,  is  looked 
upon  with  favor  at  the  court." 

"Here,  at  Blois?"  said  the  pretended  Domini- 
can with  surprise. 

"If  she  is  here,  it  is  because  she  is  conceiv- 
ing some  plan  in  support  of  Prince  Gaston's 
intentions.  Yesterday,  a  party  of  his  adher- 
ents were  over  at  Chambord,  under  cloak  of 
killing  off  the  superfluous  bucks." 

"Ha!"  said  the  self-appointed  prison-chaplain 
quickly.  "And  they  were  on  hand  to  welcome 
Count  Gasse  on  his  coming  to  enter  upon  his 
garrison  duties.  This  looks  like  a  budding 
conspiracy,  forsooth!" 

"Well,  be  that  as  it  may,  this  is  the  point. 
This  lady,  from  Paris,  has  a  gallant  in  this 
town  whom  she  is  seeking  to  shape  as  a  helper 
in  the  scheme.  nis  name,  which  you  have 
mentioned  first,  is  Didier — " 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  243 

"Didier  plotting  for  Prince  Gaston— 

"Who  wants  his  brother  Louis  removed  from 
the  throne,  divorced  by  death,  so  that  he  may 
marry  his  Queen — ■" 

"Abominable  treason,"  exclaimed  the  priest. 
"You  are  a  «jood  woman  who  will  not  go  un- 
rewarded. Let  me  haste  and  advise  Master 
Laffemas!" 

"Wait,  wait— this  Didier  is  already  caged; 
he  is  in  the  Castle  prison — " 

"He  is  there?"  and  the  friar  pointed.  "No 
doubt,  no  doubt !" 

"Just  so,  for  infringing  the  fresh-issued 
royal  edict  forbidding  duelling  under  pain  of 
death,  and  death  by  hanging  at  that!" 

"I  know,"  said  Joseph,  with  a  know-all  air, 
"there  are  no  secrets  to  my  master  Laffemas!" 

"Didier.  having  killed  his  antagonist,  the 
Marquis  of  Saverny,  has  only  to  await  examina- 
tion.    The  order  for  execution  must  follow." 

••It  preceded  it,"  said  the  other.  "The  Edict 
instructs  the  judges." 

"But  there  is  often  good  pickings  on  a 
doomed  man !"  said  Rose  drily.  "This  fine  lady 
wishes  to  correspond  with  him;  and  it  is  un- 
derstood, even  to  you  churchmen  who  know 
so  little  of  the  world,  he.  he!"  chuckled  the 
old  woman  again,  "that  the  post  between  the 
imprisoned  and  their  friends  outdoors  pays  a 
heavier  charge  than  his  Majesty's  mails." 

The  friar  laughed. 

"Since  he  is  a  ward  of  mine,  this  Didier,  I 
can  see  him  as  often  as  I  please.  If  this  is 
clear,  you  have  only  to  hand  me  any  communi- 
cation'for  him,  and  stick  a  gold  piece  on  the 
wax,  to  be  sure  of  a  reply.  All  you  get  above 
the  gold,  keep,  Dame  Rose,  while  I  keep  all 
the  postage  the  gentleman  may  pay." 


244     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


& 


"You  can  manage  that  the  more  readily,'" 
observed  the  hag,  "as  you  are  his  purse-bearer !" 

Both  laughed.  Seldom  had  either  passed  a 
merrier  quarter  of  au  hour. 

Then  Rose  recollected  her  mistress,  no  doubt 
in  tribulation  at  being  so  abruptly  abandoned 
bv  her  recovered  friend  and  servant. 

'"Wait  here  for  the  letter,"  said  she.  "Be 
careful,  and — who  knows?  There  may  be  a 
great  reward  for  us  if  we  baffle  the  plot." 

"Baffle  a  plot!  That  is  the  business  of  M. 
Laffemas,"  said  the  grey  monk  who  had  be- 
come a  black  friar  without  any  ceremony. 
"We  will  be  enriched  for  life  and  he — he  will 
displace  M.  d'Argenson  as  Lieutenant-Criminal, 
take  my  word  for  it!" 

He  wrapped  his  gown  round  him,  for  the 
breeze  came  more  chillily  off  the  river,  laid 
his  head  and  shoulders  against  a  tree  stump, 
razed  at  man's  height  not  to  interfere  with 
the  line  of  fire  of  a  culverin  on  the  Castle,  and 
resigned  himself  to  await  Rose's  return. 

"A  consummate  villain,"  he  mused  in  the  in- 
terval. "But  I  must  wait  to  be  sure  before  I 
act  on  this  trace.  There  is  a  likeness  between 
her  and  Laffemas  in  voice,  traits,  and  gestures, 
which  would  delight  Dr.  Letellier,  the  royal 
physician,  who  preaches  upon  hereditary  marks 
being  indelible  and  everduring.  If  Laffemas 
is  son  of  hers,  or  yet  a  grandson,  then  I  can 
break  forever  the  hold  which  he  keeps  over  the 
Cardinal." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  345 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

OF  THE    GOOD    GUARD   OVER    HIS    MAJESTY'S 

MAILS. 

Letters  were  veritable  compositions  in  those 
days,  although  Marion  stood  upon  no  forms  in 
addressing  her  lover  in  jeopardy.  But  Rose 
had  a  missive  of  her  own  to  indite  and  this 
took  her  more  time.  In  fact,  she  spoiled  sev- 
eral sheets  of  paper,  though  a  valuable  com- 
modity, before  she  had  completed  one  to  her 
mind.  She  put  the  spoilt  paper  on  a  fire  of 
a  few  sticks  which  she  had  kindled  on  the 
cold  hearth  after  lighting  the  two-branched 
candlestick  by  which  they  had  done  their  writ- 
ing. Marion  held  out  her  open  hand  to  her, 
with  coin  and  a  ring  on  it. 

"Take  what  you  deem  sufficient,"  said  she; 
"and  pawn  the  ring  as  soon  as  a  goldsmith  and 
moneylender's  is  open  in  the  day.  We  must 
not  stint,  with  M.  Didier  in  peril!'' 

Rose  cleared  the  palm  and  rapidly  left  the 
cottage,  bidding  Marion  make  herself  at  home. 
She  had  not  breathed  a  word  about  her  hav- 
ing already  found  the  messenger. 

The  Capuchin-Dominican  was  still  at  the 
spot.  He  took  the  golden  louis,  test€'d  it  me- 
chanically between  his  teeth  as  most  persons 
did  the  dubious  coin  of  that  day,  and  took  the 
note  which  Rose  confided  to  him. 

"Be  sure  that  it  falls  into  the  right  hands," 
said  she  hypocritically.    "It  was  written  with 


246     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

tears.  Never  have  I  seen  such  pearls  from 
such  diamond  eyes!" 

"Is  not  that  another  letter  you  have  in  your 
tucker?-'  said  the  monk,  who  must  have  had 
good  eyes,  for  the  darkness  had  deepened. 

"Yes,"  said  Rose;  "it  is  for  the  post.  I  am 
writing  to  a  cousin  at  Grenoble,  who  thought 
of  coming  to  my  cottage  to  rent  it.  But  I 
must  harbor  that  court  lady  there,  d'ye  see,  so 
that,  in  case  she  must  be  arrested,  we  may 
have  the  honor  of  leading  the  guards  to  her." 

"The  honor!"  echoed  Joseph,  laughing.  "By 
my  patron-saint!  the  royal  jester  is  a  dolt  com- 
pared to  the  old  ladies  of  Blois!" 

He  said  nothing  more  about  letters,  but 
stepped  off  toward  the  Castle  as  if  eager  to 
be  there  to  await  the  gate-opening. 

Convinced  that  she  had  secured  a  faithful 
ally,  Bose  went  to  the  posting-house  of  the 
Hubert's  Horn  and,  finding  an  ostler  at  the 
stables,  getting  ready  a  horse  for  an  early  riser, 
she  induced  him  for  a  silvery  consideration  to 
accompany  her  within  the  house  where  she  de- 
posited the  letter  of  her  own  concoction  in  a 
box  for  the  purpose. 

"It  will  not  be  franked  till  morning,"  ex- 
plained the  ostler,  "but  I  will  see  master  and 
pay  him  whatever  it  is  charged  out  of  the  pis- 
tole you  give  me." 

"I  make  it  two,"  said  Rose,  "since  you  are 
sure  it  will  go." 

"I  wish  I  were  as  sure  of  becoming  head 
stableman  here." 

"Why  not?"  said  Bose  pleasantly.  "You  are 
a  sharp  and  obliging  fellow,  like  all  Picards." 

"But  the  head-stableman  is  a  Picard,  too," 
returned  the  ostler  with  a  grimace. 

In  the  meantime  the  Capuchin  had  proceeded 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  247 

straight  to  the  Castle  gates,  where  lie  gave  the 
proper  password  to  the  sentinel  aDd  also  in- 
timated  that  he  wanted  speech  with  the  cap- 
tain of  the  gate. 

This  was  all  in  the  line  of  the  guard's  duty 
so  he  pointed  with  his  arquebuss-butt  that  the 
speaker  might  go  on  under  the  frowning  arch- 
way. 

In  a  room  in  the  hollow  abutment  half-a- 
dozen  soldiers  were  nodding  as  they  sat  on  a 
long  bench;  two  were  sleepily  throwing  dice 
on  a  drumhead,  and  two  more  were  smoking. 
The  sergeant  sat  at  a  desk  and  seemed  rack- 
ing his  brain  over  a  book,  exhibiting  varied  and 
hopeless  caligraphy  to  drive  a  reader  of  palimp- 
sests frantic. 

At  the  appearance  of  a  priest  where  they  had 
expected  to  see  a  superior  officer  at  the  least, 
their  awakened  countenances  expressed  dis- 
gust. 

The  Capuchin,  still  a  Dominican,  went  over 
to  the  sub-officer  at  the  desk  and  said  famil- 
iarly: 

"The  cream  of  the  morning  to  you,  Sergeant 
La  Bellune,  and  a  pleasant  time  at  Blois!" 

"Father  Jo — "  stammered  the  man,  dropping 
his  quill  which,  overladen  with  ink,  inflicted 
another  blot  among  the  many  giving  the  page 
the  appearance  of  being  the  target  for  a  dis- 
charge of  a  blunderbuss. 

"Hush!  I  knew  you  were  down  here,  pre- 
ceding your  captain  by  a  few  days  to  smooth 
the  way  for  him!  Come,  come,  do  not  look 
glum,  Hlois  is  not  the  Markets  Quarter  of 
Paris;  but  all  the  saints  take  not  the  sunny 
side  of  the  great  avenue  in  Paradise,  and  with 
so  many  of  year  comrades  here  you  ought  to 
feel  at  home." 


248  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"What  can  I  do  for  your  Enii — that  is.  Rev- 
erence?" said  the  old  soldier,  evidently  undesir- 
ous  of  carrying  on  a  dialogue  and  checked 
every  now  and  then  in  what  might  be  a  dis- 
agreeable revelation  by  a  blink  of  the  eccle- 
siasticaFs  eyes. 

"Take  me  to  the  night  warder  and  let  him 
show  me  the  prisoner  Didier's  cell." 

"A  royal  prisoner,"  said  the  sergeant  who 
had  risen  with  alacrity  to  oblige  but  now 
seemed  inclined  to  drop  back  into  his  leather- 
bottomed  stool  again. 

"By  order  of  You-know-whom!"  said  the 
monk,  suddenly  slipping  a  ring  upon  his  finger 
which  had  hung  among  his  beads  on  its  string. 

Shaking  his  finger  a  little,  this  ring's  stone 
rattled  peculiarly,  being  a  stone  loose  within 
a  stone,  what  the  ancients  called  an  eagle- 
stone,  with  the  belief  that  it  contained  a  magi- 
cal power,  especially  when  in  a  ruler's  posses- 
sion. This  rarity  was  known  to  be  Richelieu's, 
one  that  he  seldom  trusted  out  of  sight,  though 
Father  Joseph  was  another  self. 

Disrespecting  the  guardroom  diary's  parch- 
ment, he  stamped  the  ringhead  upon  its  face, 
right  on  the  ink  blot,  carried  the  wet  bezel  to 
another  place  less  unclean  and  imprinted  the 
arms  of  Richelieu  thereon. 

It  was  not  chance,  but  just  over  this  mark 
was  the  line,  pure  phrase  of  form  in  a  charge, 
"By  order  of  the  King."  The  sergeant  re- 
garded them  as  invisibly  coupled,  and  bowed 
as  if  the  two  rulers  of  France  stood  before 
him. 

Rising  again,  he  said: 

"Corporal  Longuepec,  take  my  place  and  see 
if  you  can  make  head  or  tail  of  this  file  of 
Dutch  herrings  stood  on  end — but  which  my 


OR.  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  249 


foregoer  calls  figures  of  an  account!  I  give 
my  sonl  to  all  the  imps  if  I  can  understand  il ! 
Come,  reverence!"  he  continued. 

No  sooner  had  the  two  left  the  smoky  guard- 
room by  an  inner  door,  than  one  of 'the  old 
garrison  asked,  turning  to  his  new  comrade, 
for  the  fort  had  received  a  reinforcement  of 
Parisians: 

"Who  is  this  black  monk  to  whom  the  ser- 
geant is  so  civil,  he  who  is,  between  us,  an  Eng- 
lish bulldog  for  politeness?" 

"That  black  friar  is  a  grey  monk — " 

"A  Franciscan?'' 

"Yes,  a  Capuchin!  That  is,  his  Grey  Emi- 
nence!" 

"The  Shadow,  so  to  say,  of  the  Card—" 

''Silence  in  the  ranks,"  said  an  old  soldier, 
sternly,  and  a  silence  followed,  the  country 
soldiers  looking  awe-stricken  at  the  new  draft, 
to  whom  the  right-hand  man  of  the  Minister 
was  known  under  even  a  turned  coat. 

In  half-an-hour  afterwards,  Joseph  came  out 
and  quitted  the  prison;  very  little  was  needed 
to  have  had  the  garrison,  as  represented  by  the 
night  watch,  salute  him  with  royal  honors  for, 
in  spite  of  the  veteran's  hush,  the  thoroughly 
awakened  men  had  chatted  of  the  Cardinal 
and  Brother  Joseph,  with  many  a  legend  of  the 
latter. 

The  Capuchin,  having  reversed  his  gown, 
reached  the  Hubert  Inn  as  a  man  was  mount- 
ing leisurely  at  the  side  gate. 

He  was  clad  in  blue  and  wore  the  fleur-de-lis 
in  silver  on  his  velvet  hunting-cap. 

"Are  you  the  courier  of  the  post?"  inquired 
the  Capuchin. 

"Yes,  your  reverence,"  was  the  careless  an- 
swer.    "Antoine-Louis,  at  your  service." 


250     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"The  Reverend  Father  Carre,  with  whom  you 
once  rode  to  Italy,  tells  me  that  you  are  a 
devoted  man  to  the  State — " 

"Father  Carre  was  good  to  my  father  when 
his  barn  was  struck  by  lightning;  I  am  de- 
voted to  Father  Carre — " 

"And  to  the  King  and  State—" 

"To  the  King,  the  State,  the  Cardinal  and  the 
rest  of  the  Royal  Family!"  returned  the  man, 
joyously. 

"Then  you  know  this?"  showing  him  in  the 
ray  of  a  lantern  swinging  at  the  stable  gate,  the 
ring  which  had  convinced  Sergeant  La  Bellune, 
and  ringing  it  like  a  little  bell. 

"I  know  it,  and  I  obey." 

"Father  Carre  took  you  along  with  him  as 
a  pleasant  travelling-companion?"  queried  the 
Capuchin. 

"Not  altogether  that,"  replied  the  rider 
frankly  and  with  conceit,  "but  I  am  a  bit  of 
a  politician  and  he  wanted  to  sound  me  on 
the  policy  of  turning  out  the  Jesuits." 

"Indeed?"  said  the  other,  surprised. 

"Yes;  I  ride  over  a  good  piece  of  the  country; 
I  chat  with  innkeepers  and  their  servants,  trav- 
ellers, drovers,  cottagers,  with  whom  I  stop 
when  my  horse  casts  a  shoe  or  breaks  a  rein; 
so  I  was  able  to  assure  Father  Carre  that  the 
Jesuits  bore  no  good  name  except  as  excellent 
instructors  of  the  youth;  but  as  these  youth 
were  the  sons  of  the  county  families,  the  peo- 
ple knew  no  good  of  them.  If  the  Cardinal 
revenged  himself  for  their  writing  pamphlet* 
against  him  by  ridding  the  kingdom  of  them  by 
means  of  thePope's  mandate,  why!  the  pens- 
ants  would  not  shed  blood  for  them,  nor  tears 
when  they  packed  up." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  251 

"That  is  how  you  came  to  go  all  the  way  to 
Rome  with  him?" 

"Faith,  reverend  father,  to  toll  the  truth  as 
if  I  wore  at  confession,"  said  the  man  merrily 
and  bravely,  for  he  began  to  suspect  that  he 
was  being  tried,  "I  have  to  howl  with  the 
wolves  after  dark  or  I  should  be  waylaid  on  the 
road  when  I  carry  the  family  jewels  to  Paris 
for  resetting,  for  the  daughter's  marriage!  I 
mean  that  I  nurse  the  acquaintance  of  such 
illustrious  highwaymen  as  Captain  Malargne, 
alias  the  Flayer,  who  I  hear  is  dead  of  a 
broken  neck;  another  Captain — the  playactor 
Lorient  alias  the  Matamore,  who  is  in  prison 
down  there,  and  others  who  would  not  be  fa- 
mous to  vour  reverence.  Therefore,  having  an 
inkling  of  this  acquaintanceship,  the  wrorthy 
father  engaged  me,  tacitly,  to  keep  off  these 
gentry  who  line  the  road  to  Rome!" 

"Yon  are  a  valuable  man,"  said  Joseph  em- 
phatically.    "What  is  your  ambition?" 

The  man  did  not  hesitate.  He  felt  that  his 
hour  to  strike  the  iron  was  come  and  he  should 
make  the  lucky  horseshoe  or  maul  the  metal 
in  vain. 

"To  marry  the  niece  of  Daddy  Horion  of  the 
Hubert's  Horn  and  succeed  the  old  fellow,  who 
is  an  excellent  cook  but  no  host.  In  short, 
with  my  savings,  to  show  three  hundred  gold 
louis." 

"Friend  Antoine-Louis,  you  shall  have  five 
hundred,  I  pledge!"' 

"Order  of  the  State?" 

"Under  the  King's  name,  and  by  order  of 
the  Minister.  Now,  what  is  your  route  to  Paris 
with  the  mailbag?" 

"I  do  not  go  over  the  bridge,  because  my 
horse  shies  at  the  new  planks  in  the  footway, 


252     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

and  I  strike  in  upon  the  highway  at  yonder 
young  oakwood,"  he  continued,  pointing  with 
his  short-handled  whip. 

"That  suffices.  I  will  await  you  in  that  little 
wood." 

"What  the  deuce  does  the  Grey  Eminence 
want  to  waylay  the  mail  carrier  for?"  grumbled 
the  courier;  but  he  did  not  say  a  word  about 
the  interview  on  getting  the  bag  from  the  host 
or  when  asked  if  all  were  right,  on  his  being 
handed  the  traditional  stirrup-cup. 

In  the  oak  grove  the  Capuchin  was  placidly 
waiting,  seated  on  a  mossy  stone  just  off  the 
track. 

"Dismount  and  hand  me  the  bag,"  said  he. 

Antoine-Louis  obeyed  more  readily  than  he 
would  the  captain  of  a  band  of  highwaymen, 
for  he  was  brave,  and  without  more  than  a 
slight  convulsion  of  his  features  saw  the  monk, 
with  quickness  and  dexterity,  open  the  bag 
by  passing  a  knife,  heated  in  a  diabolical  in- 
vention of  a  pocket  spirit-lamp,  novel  to  the 
courier,  through  the  massy  wax  seal  and  undo 
a  knot  to  which  Gordius'  was  simplicity. 

He  took  out  the  letters  by  handfuls  but 
stopped  half-way,  extricated  one  from  the 
mass,  opened  it  as  skilfully  as  the  bag,  and 
perused  it  to  himself. 

"Heavens!"  said  he,  without  moving  his  lips, 
so  that  the  mail-carrier  might  imagine  it  was 
done  by  an  automaton  with  a  wax  face.  "Rose 
is  mother  of  this  Laffemas!  She  is  the  woman 
who  'mothered'  the  poachers  at  Richelieu  and 
to  whom  was  confided  Rami  re!  'My  son!'  she 
calls  him  'her  son/  as  plainly  as  the  three  let- 
ters can  speak.  Besides,  she  rejoices  in  his 
station,  and  in  the  degree  I  promised  him!  It 
is  her  son!     And  she  begs  him  to  hurry  down 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  253 

to  lilois  to  sec  thai  Didier's  execution  is  carried 
out.  This  love  of  Laffemas — this  bloodthirsty 
desire  to  be  rid  of  Didier — I  need  be  no  necro- 
mancer to  divine  the  problem.  Didier  living  is 
a  menace  to  Laffemas,  who  is  no  progeny  of  the 
Cardinal!  They  made  him  believe  that  Ramire 
gave  birth  to  a  son.  and  that  Laffemas  is  that 
child.  Was  there  a  child?  And  is  Didier—? 
At  all  events,  Didier  must  not  die!" 

The  courier  had  calmly  smoked  a  pipe  while 
this  transgression  was  going  on.  With  the 
same  peace  he  watched  the  Cardinal's  agent  re- 
store the  letters  to  the  sack,  and  renew  the 
sealing.  He  was  letting  the  letter  which  he 
had  read  go  with  the  rest  so  that  there  was 
no  abstraction  to  complain  of. 

"This  is  for  the  needle  and  thread  to  repair 
the  rent,"  said  he.  giving  the  man  a  gold  piece. 
"Resume  your  journey;  and,  one  of  these  days, 
when  I  stop  at  the  Hubert,  Father  Joseph  will 
expect  to  have  the  new  host  and  his  wife  wait 
on  him  at  his  table." 

"The  best  of  the  house,  reverence!  The 
cream,  Emi — " 

"'Sh!  woods  have  leaves  which  some  men 
can  read,  these  days!" 

"If  I  should  be  questioned  about  the  delay — " 

"Ply  the  whip  and  spur  and  make  it  up!" 

"The  opened  bag?" 

"It  was  by  oidcr  of  the  King  and  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Stale!" 

Joseph  returned  to  the  city. 

The  courier  galloped  oil',  muttering: 

"For  'the  State'  read  'Richelieu!'  It  strikes 
me  that  I  put  my  first  step  on  the  golden  lad- 
der when  I  rode  to  Rome  with  Old  Father 
Carre!" 


254  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

NO  HUNGER  LIKE  THAT  FOR  A  PENSION. 

After  turning  his  "Joseph's  coat"  so  as  to 
present  himself  once  more  as  a  black  friar, 
the  Capuchin  asked  at  the  prison  gates,  this 
time,  for  the  chaplain.  His  Dominican  brother 
was  in  the  sick  ward.  This  was  in  the  east 
turret,  for  isolation's  sake.  Joseph  went  to 
him  and  showed  such  proofs  of  his  appoint- 
ment to  take  his  active  duties  that  on  his  re- 
turn to  the  prison,  with  the  doctor  called  to 
see  his  patient's  progress,  and  the  governor, 
summoned  to  witness  the  transfer,  he  was 
placed  as  spiritual  controller. 

In  company  with  the  doctor  and  a  turnkey, 
for  opening  the  communicating  doors,  massive- 
ly protected,  he  made  the  rounds  of  his  new  do- 
main. 

''This/'  said  he,  at  one  point,  a  grated  win- 
dow allowing  a  view  of  the  Castle  inner  gar- 
dens, where  princesses  had  promenaded  in  the 
halcyon  days,  "this  is  rather  a  parlor  than  a 
cell.     A  state  prisoner — that  is,  a  noble?" 

The  doctor  laughed. 

"It  is  a  state  prisoner,  sure  enough,  but  his 
nobility  is  in  doubt.  He  is  that  young  man, 
Didier,  who  slew  the  Marquis  of  Saverny  in 
a  duel,  in  the  teeth  of  the  decree  against  such 
practices.  As  he  is  doomed  by  that  very  Edict 
to  death  by  strangulation,  the  governor  kindly 
consigned  him  to  the  most  agreeable  place  of 
sojourn  for  the  few  hours  remaining  him.  We 
await  advices  from  Paris." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  255 

"A  duellist?     And  the  door  not  guarded? 
said  the  new  chaplain  surprisedly. 

The  warder  jangled  his  bunch  of  keys,  almost 
a  cartload. 

"Oh,  he  is  no  trouble.  He  is,  on  the  con- 
trary, so  taciturn  that  I  ordered  his  cravat  to 
be  taken  away.     He  may  meditate  suicide!" 

"I  should  like  to  see  the  moody  young  man," 
said  Joseph. 

•Certainly.  Ranulphe,  open  the  peeping- 
wicket." 

The  turnkey  slid  aside  the  small  trap-door  in 
the  large  one,  and  Joseph  looked  into  the  cell, 
comfortable  as  cells  go,  upon  the  young  man 
in  whom  he  had  shown  material  interest  when 
he  fought  with  Malargue  for  the  first  time. 

Didier  heard  the  grating  of  the  panel,  but, 
save  a  slight  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  continued 
looking  out  of  the  small  window  on  the  fig- 
trees  in  the  garden,  without  curiosity,  and  with 
only  that  contempt  being  manifested. 

"Morose,  silent,  scornful!  Doctor,  this  is 
rather  a  patient  than  a  prisoner!  He  is  going 
melancholy  mad!" 

"Oh,  if  he  is  sickening  into  anything,  it  is 
the  jail  fever.  We  had  a  bad  outbreak  at  the 
last  assizes.  A  prisoner,  the  bandit  who  was 
a  playactor  and  who  was  brought  here, 
wounded  after  an  affray  in  which  that  poor 
Saverny  was  maltreated,  has  a  touch  of  it,  and, 
I  hear,  the  judges  will  not  be  sorry  if  a  com- 
mission is  sent  down  to  take  the  special  cases." 

"I  remember  the  fever  of  two  vears  back," 
interposed  the  turnkey  with  an  old  function- 
ary's familiarity;  "the  prisoners  died  like  sheep 
and  the  city  paid  ten  crowns  per  day  for  posies 
of  medicinal  herbs  to  be  placed  before  the 
judges." 


256     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"It  seems  to  me  that  a  young:  swordsman 
may  well  look  pale  with  nothing  to  gaze  upon 
but  a  plot  of  Mariets  and  Mart- golds!"  said  the 
friar  with  an  emphasis  on  the  "Marie"  in  the 
names  of  the  two  flowers  which  he  cited,  mak- 
ing Didier  start.  One  more  obtuse  might  have 
taken  the  hint  that  here  was  a  friend  in  the 
secret  of  his  passion. 

"Pale?"  repeated  the  doctor,  somewhat  rude- 
ly displacing  the  monk  to  put  his  eye  to  the 
wicket.  "Yes — no!  decidedly  he  has  a  color! 
Hum!  it  would  be  an  unpardonable  fatality  if 
he  were  carried  away  before  the  judge  from 
Paris  came  to  try  his  case — and  impolite!" 

"Unpardonable?"  questioned  Joseph. 

"Yes,  they  would  never  forgive  the  prison 
doctor  if  he  let  the  fever  cheat  the  Executioner, 
especially  when  the  Executioner  is  the  Cardi- 
nal's own — " 

"M.  Laffemas?" 

"An  old  enemy  of  mine!  And  I  care  not  who 
hears  it!" 

The  warder  had  prudently  hurried  up  the 
passage. 

"Will  you  finish  the  round  to-day?"  said  the 
doctor,  dully,  as  if  regretting  his  frankness. 

"Are  there  many  vet  to  be  seen?" 

"Only  the  common  herd!  petty  offenders! 
Except  the  playactor,  who  is  amusing,  as  he 
frets  and  vociferates  mouthfuls  of  the  passing 
kind  of  tragedy." 

"In  a  fever,  too?"  said  the  monk,  with  signifi- 
cance. 

"Yes,  he  has  a  fever!  He  will  drink,  and  he 
is  wounded.  If  he  had  fought  a  duel,  he  might 
also  cheat  the  headsman." 

"I  will  see  no  more  until  after  breaking  mv 
fast!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  257 

"Not  breakfasted?  Come  and  have  breakfast 
with  me!  I  can  promise  you  a  feast!  The  new 
Captain  Gasse,  who  is  related  to  my  own  fam- 
ily, the  Themines,  kindly  inaugurated  his  join- 
ing the  garrison  by  sending  me  some  venison, 
killed  by  his  friends  in  the  Forest,  and  a  basket 
of  wine!  We  are  out  of  the  warder's  hearing — 
you  are  not  an    Abstcmist  Father?" 

"This  is  actually  the  feast  day  of  St.  Domi- 
nick!"  said  Joseph  with  an  air  which  might 
appear  jolly  to  one  who  knew  ecclesiasticals 
well. 

"Good!  you  will  be  a  favorite  in  this  Castle!" 

The  doctor  had  a  suite  of  pleasant  rooms 
about  which  he  narrated  a  story  or  two  of  the 
royal  personages  previously  occupying  it. 

"This  young  old  man  is  soured,"  said  Joseph 
to  himself.  "He  must  have  been  disappointed 
in  something." 

They  sat  down  to  a  copious  dinner,  rather 
than  breakfast.  The  monk  knew  how  to  please 
the  Breton,  for  such,  without  his  revelation, 
by  the  round  head,  thick-set  frame,  jovial  man- 
ners, and  loud  voice,  he  might  have  been 
guessed  to  be.    He  ate  and  drank  heartily. 

"Zookers!"  cried  the  doctor  in  delight. 
"Worse  companions  than  you  have  been  car- 
dinals! but  what  can  you  expect  under  a  con- 
sumptive King  and  a  Cardinal  who  thinks  more 
of  turning  a  verse  than  furthering  the  real  sci- 
ences useful  to  man  and  the  kingdom." 

"I  know  something  of  the  court,"  observed 
Joseph,  gravely.  "In  time,  I  have  seen  many 
comments  on  the  Minister  revoked.  Has  he  not 
established  an  Academy  of  the  Arts  and  Sci- 
ences?" 

"He  ought  to  do  more  for  medicine,  an  ailing 


258     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Minister  of  an  ailing  King,  all  of  an  ailing 
kingdom!" 

"What  do  you  personally  complain  of,  dear 
host?"  asked  the  Capuchin,  slowly  sipping  the 
wine. 

"That  I  cannot  get  any  hearing  for  my  plea. 
I  have  written  no  end  of  petitions,  with  proofs 
in  support,  which  would  fill  our  moat,  showing 
that  I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  Pest  and  its  work. 
I  say  that  it  has  its  origin  beyond  Marseilles, 
where  all  researches  stop,  and  I  am  willing, 
if  my  expenses  are  paid,  to  cross  to  Africa  and 
go  into  that  unknown  world  to  seek  the  source 
of  this  deadly  stream,  the  Plague." 

"Let  me  see,  as  a  Breton,  you  would  be  fond 
of  voyages?"   said  Joseph  drolly. 

"Oh,  I  am  not  of  the  maritime  districts. 
Well,  I  like  travel,  but  I  love  science.  Ensure 
me  my  outlay,  with  a  position  that  will  enable 
me  to  call  on  France  in  distress  and  danger  to 
my  mission,  and  I  undertake  to  supply  our  phy- 
sicians with  means  to  combat  the  cruellest 
enemy  of  civilisation." 

"I  thought  the  great  wars — " 

"Wars  of  man,  great?  There  are  few  war- 
riors but  who  spare  some  creatures — but  the 
Plague — plague  on  it!  it  sweeps  away  all, 
learned  and  loon,  child  and  centenarian,  states- 
man and  petty  clerk!  Let  the  faculty  but  know 
how  to  cope  with  the  great  Pest  and  the  minor 
disorders  will  be  rooted  out,  by  another  cen- 
tury!" 

"What  answer  did  you  get  to  your  petitions?" 

"Silence!  the  great  wet-blanket  by  which  in- 
ventors are  smothered  by  jacks-in-office!  Pri- 
vately, I  received  a  hint  that  I  had  best  not  fly 
over  the  underlings'  heads — " 

"I  was  just  going  to  say,  write  to  the  Chief 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  259 

of  the  State,  that  is  to  him  next  the  Chief, 
since  the  King  docs  little  outside  of  his  prov- 
ince— to  Richelieu." 

"They  tell  me  not  to  do  so;  for,  twenty  years 
ago,  my  brother  killed  his  elder  brother  in  a 
duel."  * 

"Thymines!  ah,  vou  would  be  that  The- 
mines?"  said  Joseph.  "But  the  great  man  has 
a  noble  heart.  Did  he  not  make  your  father 
Governor  of  Brittany?" 

"Yes;  the  old  gentleman  thinks,  to  conciliate 
him;   he  is  as  obstinate  as — as — a  Breton." 

"Richelieu  bears  him,  or  you,  no  grudge. 
Hark  ye,  doctor,  I  have  the  ear  of  one  of  his 
confessors,  Father  Carre,  of  my  own  brother- 
hood. The  Minister  shall  hear  of  you  and  your 
project.  Father  of  Mercy!  if  the  statesman 
can  be  so  wroth  with  the  duellists  for  depriv- 
ing the  State  of  subjects,  how  glad  should  he 
be  towards  one  who,  by  crippling  the 
Plague—" 

"Throttling  it!"  said  the  doctor,  holding  up 
his  glass. 

"Would  double  the  number  of  lives  in  the 
realm?" 

"Tripling — what  do  I  say — quintupling!  I 
will  prove  this  by  the  mortality  tables!" 

".Make  up  a  packet  of  your  treatises,  and  I 
will  wrap  round  them  a  letter  to  Father 
Carre." 

"It  was  a  blessed  day  when  you  were  ap- 
pointed to  the  Castle!"  cried  Doctor  Themines 
enthusiastically. 

"You  are  good  to  say  so.  So  you  can  com- 
bat the  Plague?" 

"Not  yet!  but  I  can  make  head  against  its 
minor  manifestations — " 

"As—" 


260     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"The  prodromae  fevers — the  precursory  fe- 
vers— " 

"Jail-fever,  with  which  that  worthy  turnkey 
was  so  engrossed  that  he  forgot  manners  and 
discipline?" 

"Jail-fever?  to  be  sure.  Now,  that  ambula- 
tory Thespian,  the  Matamore — he  has  jail-fe- 
ver. But  if  I  were  to  tell  the  truth,  there 
would  be  a  panic  in  the  Castle.  Very  likely  the 
judge  from  Paris  would  not  come." 

"My  friend,  a  judge  who  scents  blood,  always 
comes  to  his  seat." 

"Oh,  you  think  they  will  send  a  hanging 
judge?" 

"As  surely  as  your  patient  Matamore  has  the 
jail-fever!" 

"Which  is,  the  Plague  in  a  minor  form." 

"It  follows  that  if  the  Matamore  had  a  re- 
lease, you  would  expedite  his  liberation  that 
he  might  not  infect  the  Castle?" 

"I  should  like  to  study  his  case,  but — " 

"Since  that  would  make  a  pest-house  of  the 
Castle,  keep  aloof  the  judge  and  his  train, 
whose  coming,  to  say  nothing  of  the  sight-seers 
brought  hither,  would  enrich  Blois,  you  sink 
yourself  and  let  him  go  with  his  play-acting 
tribe.  The  plague  is  nothing  new  among  vag- 
rants and  vagabonds,  all  know!" 

"Who  is  likely  to  release  that  robber?" 

"Judge  Laffemas,  of  course — " 

The  doctor  leant  back  in  his  chair.  He 
laughed  roughly. 

"That  tiger — that  monster  relent,  sign  an 
order  of  release? — Mv  friend,  vou  are  mislead- 
ing;  you  are  not  in  touch  with  the  court!" 

"Laffemas  will  release  this  vagabond  be- 
cause he  does  not  want  to  enter  prisons  where 
the  jail-fever,  otherwise  Pest,  is  lurking." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  261 

"Good!  I  recant!  the  poor  devil,  who,  all 
things  considered,  only  tried  t<>  cut  a  purse 
and  a  throat,  will  go  along  with  his  dramatic 
friends,  infecting  them,  perhaps — " 

"Perhaps  be  cured  by  the  open-air  life!  You 
know  we  monks  are  Peripatetics?  are  we  ill? 
'Let  him  take  a  walk!'  says  the  abbot!  It  is 
true  that  our  curative  walks  sometimes  extend 
into  Asia  or  Canada;  but  we  are  cured  T" 

"If  a  release  order  comes  for  Master  Mata- 
more,  depend  on  my  facilitating  his  departure." 

"And  I!  all  the  more  as,  between  ourselves, 
the  encouragement  of  even  itinerant  players  is 
no  harm  in  one  who  seeks  a  favor  of  the  ruling 
powers." 

"Does  the  sullen,  apathetic  King  favor  the 
drama?  I  thought  his  ideas  rose  no  higher 
than  the  ballet!  is  not  La  Mermaison  his  pet 
amusement  on  the  stage?" 

"The  King  does  incline  to  dancers,"  said  Jos- 
eph gravely,  holding  out  his  glass  for  more 
wine,  having  successfully  emptied  the  other 
under  the  table;  "but  I  was  speaking  of  the 
Cardinal." 

"Yes,  he  writes  tragedies!" 

''And  is  drumming  up  France  for  actors! 
Mark,  you  recommend  yourself  by  assisting,  in 
the  retention  on  the  great  stage  of  Life,  of  even 
one  actor.  This  humble  Matamore  mav  be  the 
'villain'  he  requires  for  his  piece!" 

"I  would  open  the  door  to  Matamore  with  my 
own  hand!"  cried  the  Breton,  rising. 

"Wait !  Meanwhile,  study  the  map  of  Africa; 
you  shall  trace  the  Pest  to  its  place  of  genesis! 
the  petition,  the  proofs — " 

With  unsteady  foot  the  Breton  crossed  the 
room,  and  with  unsteady  hand  took  some  pa- 
pers out  of  a  press  in  the  solid  wall. 


262     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Here  they  are:  a  spare  petition,  which  only 
requires  my  hand — " 

He  filled  in  the  blank  with  wine  lees  instead 
of  ink. 

"These  are  tractates  in  support — stay — this 
is  one  anent  Suicide — " 

"Let  me — ah!  what  a  superior  thesist  you 
are!  what  lucidity  and  compactness!  if  only 
that  young  gentleman  doomed  for  duelling 
were  to  read  this,  I  am  sure  he  would  renounce 
the  thought  of  self-murder  which  is  in  his  eye, 
and  meet  the  noose  with  resignation." 

"Give  it  to  him,  as  you  go  down!  give  it 
him — " 

"Will  it  not  look  odd,  a  chaplain  so  new  in 
his  office,  transmitting  papers  to  a  prisoner — " 

"Not  a  jot!  but — stay!"  added  he  with  a 
bright  gleam  and  laughing  at  his  own  bril- 
liancy; "it  will  look  more  professional  if  we 
send  it  round  a  potion  as  a  double  dose.  Moral 
and  Corporeal,  so  all  medicines  should  be!" 

He  spilt  some  powder  out  of  a  jar  upon  the 
pamphlet,  folded  the  latter  up  deftly,  tied  it 
and  sealed  it,  and  said,  as  he  handed  it,  with 
the  other  papers,  to  his  new  friend: 

"That  to  the  morose  prisoner!  the  ginger 
will  enliven  him  and  the  tract  fortify  him!  that 
voung  man  will  tread  the  scaffold  as  in  a  dauc- 
ing  measure!" 

"And  we  will  clear  the  prison  of  that  pesti- 
lential tragedian?" 

"It  is  understood.  I  wish  I  could  see  you 
down  the  stairs.  But  those  confounded  spiral 
stairs!  the  wonder  of  stair-building,  for  Blois, 
and  the  misery  of  my  head,  after  venison!  sin- 
gular to  say,  I  can  grapple  with  the  Plague, 
but  so  trivial  a  puzzle  as  why  eating  venison 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  263 

should  make  my  bead  swim? — that  baffles  my 
science." 

Father  Joseph  bowed  himself  out  and  de- 
scended alone. 

He  was  not  left  lo  lose  himself,  for  the  war- 
der was  patiently  waiting  at  the  foot  of  the 
winding  steps. 

News  pertaining  to  menials  travels  quickly  in 
their  world,  and  already  it  was  a  most  remote 
nook  of  the  vast  fortalke  where  it  was  not 
breathod  that  the  new  chaplain  carried  with 
him  the  favor,  at  least  of  Father  Joseph,  the 
alter  ego  of  his  "Red  Eminence." 

But  the  turnkey  took  care  not  to  be  too 
deferential.  It  was  not  easy  to  say  that  he  had 
altered,  but  the  Capuchin  perceived  all. 

"Show  me  to  the  room  provided  for  the  new 
chaplain,"  said  he. 

The  man  was  disappointed :  he  had  evidently 
expected  something  more  theatrical — more  in 
keeping  with  the  mysterious  romance  sur- 
rounding his  Grey  Eminence. 

They  went  on  silently  for  some  paces.  Sud- 
denlv  the  monk  cried:  "Stay!  I  had  forgotten." 

He  took  out  from  under  his  robe  the  packet 
confided  to  him  by  Doctor  Themines  for  Paris, 
and,  then,  the  smaller  one,  the  pamphlet  en- 
wrapping the  powder. 

He  fumbled  with  them  both  for  a  moment, 
then  said: 

"The  doctor  gave  me  this  for  your  gentle- 
man-duellist— " 

"No.  7  of  the  Garden  Ward?" 

"Didier." 

"It  is  the  same!" 

"It  is  a  potion  to  cheer  him  out  of  his  melan- 
choly." 

"Poor  young  man!     I  will  give  it  him  with 


264     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

pleasure.  And  yet,  what  is  the  odds?  I  ai§ 
not  with  those  who  think  a  man  should  die 
capering,  in  his  finest  clothes,  and  with  a  jest 
or  a  snatch  of  a  love  song!  It  is  a  long  journey 
to  the  Judgment  Seat,  with,  perhaps,  plenty  of 
time  to  change  your  tune  on  the  road!" 

Joseph  went  on  steadily,  while  the  jailer 
thrust  the  packet  in  at  Didier's  door  by  the 
panel. 

The  Capuchin,  shown  his  room,  asked  for 
writing  materials  and  proceeded  to  compose 
a  report  for  Paris.  He  enclosed  the  papers  on 
behalf  of  Themines'  project  and  wrote  this  line 
for  the  Cardinal,  as  to  Laffemas: 

"Let  me  have  Superior  Order  to  release  one 
Diego,  alias  the  Matamore,  under  examination 
for  brawling  and  robbery  with  violence.  He 
is  dying  of  fever  from  drink  and  wounds  and 
mav  as  well  (iie  outside  of  the  Castle  walls.  In 
three  days,  not  before,  Laffemas  may  come  to 
try  the  survivor  of  the  duel  infringing  the 
Edict." 

When  the  jailer,  going  down  past  Didier's 
prison-room,  peeped  in,  as  was  his  duty,  but  he 
did  it  from  curiosity,  he  saw  a  great  change  in 
him. 

"Decidedly,  we  have  a  good  chaplain,"  said 
he,  "but  our  doctor,  too,  can  operate  miracles! 
how  joyous  the  Doomed  Duellist  is!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  265 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

CUPID  CAGED. 

Didier  had,  upon  the  first  knowledge  of  the 
visitors,  been  absent-minded;  but  the  twice- 
niention  of  "Marie,''  in  the  guarded  way,  had 
excited  him;  he  reasoned  that  this  strange 
priest  was  no  enemy,  and  he  awaited  develop- 
ment of  his  wary  introduction. 

On  receiving  the  powder  from  the  doctor, 
and  his  tract,  he  certainly  pushed  them  aside 
with  scorn;  but,  at  the  same  instant,  his  lip 
ceased  to  curl  for  he  had  perceived,  between 
the  somewhat  yellow  edges  of  the  printed  pa- 
per, a  slip  more  white.  He  made  sure  that  he 
was  unobserved  and  pulled  out  this  inserted 
communication. 

Marion's  hand!  he  kissed  it  and  was  amazed, 
happy  and  vexed  at  his  having  despaired. 

"The  abyss  was  deep  into  which  I  was 
plunged,  but  she  is  willing  to  try  to  cross  it  on 
that  bridge  which  love  throws  over  profundity 
and  distances  immense,  narrower  than  the 
sword-edge  on  which  the  sons  of  Mahound  cross 
into  Paradise.  Wretch  that  I  am,  descending 
so  low,  and  letting  her  fold  her  wings  and  drop 
to  the  bottom  beside  me!  Alas!  my  destiny  has 
entangled  her  chain  of  life  and  she  will  be 
crushed  with  me." 

He  had  persuaded  himself  that  he  was  ac- 
cursed, the  most  disinherit t'd  of  men  born  to  a 
lot  in  heaven! 

Most  foundlings  are  fain  to  indulge  in  the 
conceit  that  their  origin  is  exalted,  at  least  on 


266     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

one  side.  Whenever  those  accidents  befall 
them,  during  which  they  are  saved  from  pov- 
erty or  peril  by  what  one  styles  a  special  provi- 
dence— so  vain  are  we  to  think  that  even  social 
gravitation  may  be  suspended  in  our  instance! 
— these  unhappy  creatures  thank  their  guard- 
ian angel — father  or  mother — whose  spirit  they 
believe  is  beside  them. 

Didier  dwelt  in  this  error.  He  would  have 
been  outrageous  towards  one  who  told  him 
that  with  a  peasant's  rearing  he  would  have 
thought  like  a  peasant.  His  instructor  had 
said  that  all  men  were  born  equal  and  that 
education  made  the  differences;  but  at  the 
same  time  this  worthy  man  dilated  on  the  ad- 
vantages of  class,  and  sought  to  have  his  pupil 
become  a  "gentleman." 

"Marie"  had  crossed  his  path  and  fallen  into 
it,  keeping  step  with  him,  like  this  spirit  made 
visible.  Sooner  than  attribute  to  the  messen- 
ger transmitting  her  letter  so  ingeniously,  the 
superior  place,  he  would  ignore  that  his  par- 
ents might  be  seeking  him,  and  give  gratitude 
to  Marion  for  all. 

"As  all  on  earth  were  striking  at  me,"  he 
mused,  "repulsing  me  and  driving  me  into  ex- 
ile, she  came  as  my  solace,  my  hope  and  my 
enlightener  as  to  what  home  may  be.  What  a 
heart  she  has,  so  full  of  adroitness  and  love  as 
to  solve  the  problem  of  conveying  a  letter  to  a 
man  in  the  condemned  hold !  Her  lines  console 
and  sustain  me!  if  I  am  to  be  delivered,  it  will 
be  by  her!" 

The  jailer,  passing,  saw  him  wreathed  in 
smiles. 

"Weak  woman,  she  will  save  me  from  my  im- 
mediate doom,  perchance!  but  can  she  save 
one  so  wicked  and  unfortunate,  from  my  later 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  2G7 

destiny?  Yet  the  fortune-teller  assured  her 
that  we  should  be  happy  together!  that  for- 
tune-teller, whose  trickery  I  know!  Am  I  to  be- 
lieve in  jugglery  for  which  I  played  the  accom- 
plice? But,  whatever  Marie's  success  in  deliv- 
ering me,  at  least,  she  shows  pity  for  the  poor 
oppressed  lonely  one!  All  hated  me,  and  she 
loves! 

"Is  it  possible,  though,  that  at  the  same  time 
as  I  am  plunged  into  prison,  she  still  offers  me 
her  heart,  what  happiness  she  may  obtain, 
what  property  she  possesses,  and  her  youth  and 
beauty?  Oh,  prodigal  to  me,  a  prisoner  under 
the  halter,  of  gifts  which  would  be  stintedly 
paid  for  by  the  wealth  of  a  kingdom!  If  I  es- 
cape with  my  life,"  he  went  on,  hanging  with 
both  hands  to  the  window  bars  and  peering 
out  on  the  garden  and  up  at  the  sky  between 
the  grey  towers,  where  the  swallows  flitted  and 
stole  threads  from  the  banners  to  line  their 
nests,  "If  I  leave  this  stone  cage  a  free  man, 
what  can  I  offer  her  in  return  for  so  much? 
so  little — nothing  but  madness  and  poverty!  If 
heaven  brought  her  to  me,  it  is  the  other  place 
where  we  must  dwell!  What  an  unequal  por- 
tion! She  has  never  done  evil  enough  to  merit 
that !  I  never  have  done  good  enough  to  merit 
her!" 

A  flourish  of  trumpets  on  the  esplanade  with- 
out the  garden  wall,  reminded  him  of  the  royal 
proclamation,  the  crowd  and  the  Parisian  gal- 
lants, the  quarrel  and  the  duel. 

It  seemed  to  him  that  all  was  to  occur 
again,  but  the  voice  that  arose,  though  the 
same  town-crier's  that  he  had  heard,  had  de- 
graded. Town-criers  are  but  human,  and 
change  with  the  day;  this  one  who  had  bawied 
the  royal  mandate  the  other  time,  now  repeated 


268     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  high-strung  harangue  of  an  itinerant  show. 

"By  permission  of  the  Mayor,  the  Burgesses, 
the  Governor,  and  the  Nobility  and  Gentry  of 
Blois,  I  have  the  honor  to  state  that  the  illus- 
trious troupe  of  Master  Mondori,  of  the  Drap- 
ers' Close,  Pont  Neuf,  Paris,  will  give  three — 
three — three  days'  performances,  several  times 
a-day,  on  the  Grand  Square.    Hear  me!" 

Didier  laughed  bitterly. 

"If  a  ticket  came  to  me  as  easily  as  this 
note — "  and  again  he  kissed  Marion's  note,  "I 
should  be  wanting  at  this  dramatic  feast!  I 
shall  be  hanged,  and  the  crowd  that  saw  me 
dance  in  air  will  turn  to  these  players  and,  per- 
haps, see  my  story  on  the  stage!  No,  I  will 
live  for  her!  I  will  add  a  fresh  chapter  to  my 
drama,  at  all  events!  Men  have  'scaped  from 
prisons  to  which  this  solid  Castle  was  a  wicker 
basket!  Oh,  Marie,  my  treasure  from  which 
these  irons  keep  me!  but  not  for  long!  You  are 
my  fortune,  love,  welfare,  glory  and  virtue! 
"Without  you,  a  worm — with  your  light,  a  star 
that  has  fallen  into  the  mire  but  struggles, 
rises,  leaps  and  climbs  to  bear  the  reflected 
lustre  where  man  shall  see  it!    I  will  escape!" 

But  in  vain  did  he  search  every  corner  and 
crack — nothing  but  the  swallows  of  the  Castle 
could  be  free  in  their  going  and  coming. 

"Impossible!  I  must  owe  my  escape  to  her! 
I  must  yield  to  woman's  influence,  wit  and  dar- 
ing,  for  I  cannot  save  myself!" 

He  heard  unusual  going  and  coming  in  the 
prison,  the  swish  of  brooms,  the  washing  of 
water,  the  removal  of  cobwebs,  the  illumina- 
tion of  dark  corners  where  plaster  was  hurried 
ly  smeared. 

"What  is  this  turmoil  for?"  he  inquired  of  his 
turnkey. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  B69 

"Visitors  from  Paris,  sir!  the  judges  are 
coming  to  try  your  case!  Whal  an  event  for 
Blois!  people  will  flock  in  from  the  country 
almost  as  they  did  long  ago  to  see  the  corpse 
of  the  murdered  Duke  of  Guise!  Ah,  but  we 
will  not  all  live  to  see  it!" 

"I  will,  for  one,"  said  Didier  with  mock  gai- 
ety. "The  judge  is  one  figure  in  the  phantasma- 
goria, the  headsman  another,  and,  I  think,  the 
victim  another — quite  as  indispensable!" 

'•Truly,  you  are  right,  my  gentleman!  they 
will  come  to  see  you.  I  only  meant  that  your 
fellow  prisoner,  fellow  from  being  in  this  ward, 
for  he  is  not  gentlefolks — the  player  Matamore, 
he  will  be  dead  in  forty  hours,  so  says  the  doc- 
tor." 

"Poor  man!"  said  Uidier,  inattentively. 

''Dying  from  fever  after  swordwounds  which 
he  tried  to  cure  by  some  witch's  ointment  in- 
stead of  applying  "to  the  regular  salvers.  As 
for  me,  let  me  go  regularly  out  of  life!  some 
people,  though,  will  live  oddly  and  so  die.  It 
is  a  certainty,"  added  the  warder,  seeing  that 
his  auditor  was  listless.  "For  he  has  written 
farewell  to  his  sweetheart — " 

"Ah!"  cried  Didier,  turning  his  head,  his  eye 
blazing. 

"I  thought  that  would  prick  him!"  muttered 
the  other.  ''This  young  man  was  not  moping 
because  he  is  doomed  to  the  death,  but  love- 
sick. Love  is  like  a  cordial  to  these  of  a  loving 
age!  As  I  was  a-saying,  sir,  this  Matamore 
writes  to  one  Louisette,  maid  to  a  famous 
soothsayer  of  Paris,  one  who  foretold  Chalais' 
death  on  the  scaf — hem!  if  she  wants  to  see 
him  alive,  she  is  to  travel  like  a  royal  courier! 
Louisette  must  be  a  common  name  in  town, 
sir,"  went  on  the  talkative  functionary,  "for 


270  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE;' 

that  arch-rogue,  his  superior  officer  in  brigan- 
dage, Captain  Malargue,  whose  account  you  or 
the  Marquis  de  Saverny  helped  to  settle,  he 
used  to  toast  'Louisette'  in  his  cups!" 

Didier  bit  his  lips.  Was  he  to  be  tormented 
by  the  phantoms  of  all  these  knaves,  just  be- 
cause he  had  honored  them  by  crossing  swords 
with  them? 

"This  man  is  dying,  then?" 

"Unless  Louisette  brings  the  royal  release 
with  her,"  laughed  the  man,  "which  is  not  very 
likely!  he  will  be  buried  in  the  corner  we  re- 
serve for  the  criminals  here  departing.  It  will 
be  an  occasion  for  the  new  chaplain  to  show 
how  well  he  can  preach  a  funeral  sermon." 

"The  new  chaplain?" 

"The  Dominican  monk  who  accompanied  our 
doctor." 

"Ah!"  and  Didier  sighed,  for  an  attache  of 
the  prison  was  not,  he  feared,  so  useful  to  him, 
as  one  who  had  free  egress. 

"Oh,  he  is  as  good  as  a  Capuchin  any  day!" 
said  the  man  with  a  peculiar  look  which  his 
charge  did  not  appreciate,  not  being  in  the 
open  secret  among  the  officials  that  his  Grey 
Eminence  was  pro-tempora  acting  for  the  chap- 
lain on  the  sick  list. 

Didier  looked  up;  it  was  not  he  who  hurt  the 
Matamore,  at  least. 

"So  this  poor  fellow  is  dying  of  his  wounds?" 

"Not  from  those  received  the  other  night, 
when  his  gang  was  dispersed  by  the  Marquis 
de  Saverny,  and  his  leader  slain;  but  old  ones 
re-opening;  these  rascals  have  their  skin  traced 
over  with  gash  and  slash  like  a  tattooed  sailor, 
and  I  have  seen  them,  at  Toulon,  where  I  was 
overseer  of  the  rowers." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  271 

His  hearer  felt  relieved:  this  death  fell  to 
the  score  of  Abbe  de  Gondi. 

"I  hope  this  Louisette  will  come  to  smooth 
his  pillow,"  said  he,  with  some  deeper  feeling. 

"He  will  be  a  loss,"  continued  the  turnkey, 
loitering  by  the  door,  having  finished  tidying 
up  the  room. 

"I  dare  say,  to  his  thieving  community." 

"No,  no,  no!  to  the  stage,  I  mean.  A  com- 
pany has  come  to  town — these  gentry  scent  a 
fair  or  an  execution,  for  they  always  pitch 
their  tents  where  a  crowd  gathers!  a  company 
that  counted  on  having  this  very  actor  for  their 
Hector!  He  was  the  first  person  they  asked 
for,  before  going  to  beg  the  favor  of  the  Mayor 
and  the  Corporation." 

The  prisoner  made  no  reply. 

"They  did  not  seem  surprised,  I  am  told,  at 
their  comrade  being  in  prison!  what  unhappy 
beings!  half  their  life  in  jail — although,"  said 
the  man,  laughing  abruptly,  "it  is  my  life,  come 
to  think  of  it!  but,  then,  I  am  paid  for  it! 
which  alters  the  case!  Oh,  if  you  do  not  object, 
Master  Didier,  they  will  be  shifting  you  into 
another  room  when  you  return  from  your  walk 
to-morrow!  this  is  a  hint  I  give  you — for  I 
ought  not  to  say  a  word.  You  understand!  if 
you  meditated  escape,  and  had  tried  to  wrench 
out  those  bars,  ha,  ha!  all  would  be  discov- 
ered." 

"Change  my  room?" 

"Whv,  yes!  you  can  hardly  vet  have  got  to 
like  it!  like  the  prisoner  of  the  Old  Chatelet 
who,  let  out  by  the  coming  to  the  throne  of  his 
present  Majesty!  and  that  causing  the  usual 
general  deliverance,  did  not  know  where  to  go 
to,  in  Paris,  and  asked  to  pass  the  nights  in  the 
guardhouse!" 


272     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"It  is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  me,"  re- 
sponded Didier,  although  the  idea  struck  him 
that  this  either  traversed  some  plan  of  his  only 
friend,  Marion,  or,  to  look  on  the  bright  side, 
assisted  towards  its  result. 

"You  see,  they  do  not  want  to  bring  the 
judge,  who  may  wish  privately  to  see  his  pris- 
oner, where  the  fever-stricken  patient  lies," 
said  the  warden,  looking  wise. 

The  next  day,  when  Didier  returned  within- 
doors from  a  daily  tour  of  the  gardens,  this 
same  warder,  wearing  a  portentous  air  of  mys- 
tery and  wonder,  led  him  in  another  direction 
than  heretofore.  He  was  ushered  into  a  room 
very  poor  indeed  compared  with  that  he 
quitted. 

While  not  knowing  that,  usually,  the  con- 
demned are  granted  favors  rather  than  denied 
them,  Didier  stopped  on  the  sill  at  this  sordid 
sight  and  said: 

"What  means  this?  this  is  not  only  the  mean- 
er cell,  but  it  is,  unless  I  was  misinformed  by 
you  yourself,  that  occupied  bjT  your  Matamore, 
the  dying  one!  Is  he  dead?  is  it  as  a  foretaste 
that  I  am  given  the  dead  man's  cell,  before  the 
scent  of  death  has  been  swept  out  of  it?" 

"Poor  young  gentleman!"  said  the  turnkey 
to  himself.  "They  have  not  given  him  the  clue! 
Oh,  well,  let  me  play  my  part!  there  is  a  golden 
guerdon  at  the  end  of  my  task,  or  I  mistake  my 
man!" 

He  gently  pushed  Didier  into  the  apartment, 
and  said  with  a  loud  and  forcedly  merry  voice: 

"Would  you  jest?  Ah,  Signior  Matamore, 
your  walk  has  set  you  up!  what  an  arrant 
rogue  you  are  to  sham  sick!  Fever!  merely  to 
rake  up  an  excuse  to  get  the  kind  chaplain  to 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  273 

send  for  your  sweethearl  to  conic  down  from 
Paris." 

"is  the  man  mad?"  muttered  Didier,  shrink- 
ing back  to  the  small  window. 

"Well,"  proceeded  the  turnkey,  "you  have 
deceived  us  all  finely  and  you  get  your  reward! 
Look!   here  is  your  Louisette!" 

Holding-  the  door  but  standing  aside,  he  al- 
lowed Didier,  who  advanced,  with  curiosity  and 
a  kind  of  instinct,  to  send  his  glance  up  the  cor- 
ridor, all  the  better  lighted  as  it  had  been 
limed  for  the  visit  of  the  authorities. 

"Louisette!"  gasped  he,  clasping  his  fore- 
head, which  suddenly  beat  as  if  to  burst. 

"I  thought  you  would  recognise  her!"  said 
the  other,  standing  aside  altogether  so  that  a 
woman,  hastening  along  the  passage,  could  en- 
ter the  cell.  "This  way,  my  girl!  here  is  your 
gallant!  thank  heaven,  the  good  news  cured 
him !  come  in,  without  fear  of  the  fever." 


274      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  RELEASE  OF  THE  MATAMORE. 

"Marie!"  ejaculated  Didier,  recoiling  but 
opening  his  arms. 

The  turnkey  closed  the  door  and  went  up  the 
corridor,  jingling  his  keys  noisily. 

"Oh,  her  second  name  is  'Marie!'"  said  he 
under  his  breath,  rubbing  his  beard  with  his 
other  hand.  "Ah,  they  may  promise  strange 
things  on  that  stage  erected  on  the  square  for 
Master  Mondori,  but  it  is  in  his  Majesty's  and 
the  States  of  Blois'  Castle  that  the  most  re- 
markable deed  comes  to  pass!  Fever,  quotha? 
they  remove  the  right  Matamore,  because  he 
has  the  fever!  I  warrant  ye,  that  this  other, 
his  counterpart  in  spite  of  himself,  has  his 
pulse  rapping  off  a  hundred  and  over  to  the 
minute!  but  that  Louisette!  they  do  boast  pret- 
tv  girls  in  Paris!" 

"Marie!  Marie!  you  have  penetrated  even 
here,  to  follow  me !"  moaned  Didier. 

Marion  wrung  her  hands,  trembling  with 
pain  and  excitement. 

"Is  this  a  reproach?  reproach,  my  recom- 
pense?" 

"No,  never  from  this  heart,  which  is  the 
shrine  of  my  faith  in  you,  never  can  a  reproach 
to  you  issue!  But  how  have  you  deceived  the 
governor,  the  chief  warder,  the  guards?  Why 
have  you  descended  into  this  netherworld 
where  is  gnashing  of  teeth  and  wailing  and 
tears?  Are  you  making  yourself  a  companion- 
captive?" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  275 

"Didier,"  said  she  through  abundant  tears, 
her  courage  giving  way,  "my  happiness  is  in 
loving  von  and  being  beside  you!" 

"Let  me  look  on  you — let  me  refresh  and 
regale  ray  eyes,  dimmed  by  the  dense  air  laden 
with  miserable  plaints!  When  my  soul  was 
attached  to  this  body  by  a  leash,  the  other  end 
was  held  by  a  demon  and  an  angel!  the  demon 
is  my  bad  fortune  which  brought  me  here — 
the  angel,  it  is  you !  I  thank  heaven  that  at  this 
moment  I  see  nothing  but  the  angel!" 

"Didier,  I  am  here  because  you  are  my  lord 
and  master."' 

"What,  is  there  yet  a  higher  favor  at  the 
back  of  this  boon?  Are  they  going  to  let  us 
be  wed  before — before — all  my  mortal  happi- 
ness flies?" 

"Wed?"  said  she  in  despair. 

"You  mean  that  you  have  come  to  be  mv 
wife?" 

She  sighed  with  an  averted  countenance. 

"I  forgive  them  everything,"  continued  Did- 
ier violently.  "The  injustice,  the  incarceration, 
die  long  isolation,  all,  for  this  blessing  of  hold- 
ing you  as  spouse  before  I  quit  this  jealous  and 
implacable -world!    My  wife,  Marie!" 

She  had  escaped  from  his  frenetic  embrace, 
and  said,  gently,  with  the  voice  of  one  trying 
to  appease  a  lunatic: 

"Be  my  brother!" 

"Oh,  no!  do  not  withhold  from  my  parched 
soul  the  sacred  cup  of  delight — your  being 
mine  before  heaven  and  man!  I  see,  why  you 
came  to  me  in  such  serenity!  you  knew  the 
husband  would  guard  his  beloved  even  more 
carefully  than  the  lover!" 

She  sobbed  now. 

The  interview  had  turned  otherwise  than  she 


276  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

expected.  She  had  seen  herself  all  smiles;  she 
was  Niobe,  all  tears. 

"They  threatened  me  with  the  torture,"  pur- 
sued Didier.  "Do  you  know  what  my  torture 
was?  to  think  of  you  shut  up  above-stairs  in 
that  inn,  besieged,  as  it  were,  by  those  Parisian 
gallants!  they  would  halloa  at  you  if  you  ap- 
peared, and  storm  the  stairs  with  rude  words 
and  coarse  laughter!  It  was  not  the  least  of 
the  torments  I  have  undergone  in  my  loneli- 
ness, that  I  pictured  you  surrounded  by  that 
swarm  of  wasps  and  gadflies!  Oh,  chaste  and 
noble  flower,  that  you  should  bloom,  and  have 
those  insects  flutter  around  you!" 

"Didier,  be  prudent!  they  may  listen  with- 
out, there!" 

"How  is  it  you  are  here?" 

"I  do  not  know!    I  wrote  you  a  note — " 

"It  is  on  my  heart !  it  has  pacified  my  throb- 
bing heart,  which  swelled  to  bursting  with  gall, 
without  that  dulcifying  kindness." 

"My  old  servant  Rose,  whose  house  in  the 
suburbs  is  my  shelter — she  offered  to  pass  it  in 
to  you." 

"I  thank  her.  I  thought  ill  of  that  woman. 
Forgive  me,  in  her  name.  I  am  apt  to  think  ill 
of  all  the  world;  but  not  hereafter,  this  boon 
being  so  great !" 

"She  induced  a  soldier  of  the  castle-guard  to 
come  with  the  word  that  I  might  enter  the 
prison  under  the  name  of  Louisette  and  the 
garb  of  a  waiting-maid.  This  Louisette  was 
supposed  to  arrive  from  Paris." 

"Louisette,"  said  Didier,  "was  the  maid  of 
that  fortune-teller  wt1io  was  laughed  at,  often 
by  me,  when  she  promised  us  happiness!  now  I 
revere  her  talents!" 

"I  was  told  that  I  must  pretend  to  be  visit- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  277 

ing  one  Matamore,  a  playactor  imprisoned  for 

some  slight  oflense — " 

"Slight?  one  who  waylaid  thai  foppish  mar- 
quis under  your  window!"  said  Didier. 

"And  who,  so  their  story  went,  might  be  re 
leased  in  order  to  join  his  comrades  entertain- 
ing the  citizens  on  the  Grand  Place." 

"Entertaining!  he  who  is  dying  of  gangrene 
and  fever!    What  imbroglio  is  this?" 

"What  matters,  if  yon  are  released,  whether 
it  be  under  your  name  or  another's!"  insisted 
Marion,  afraid  that  he  would  argue  and  remon- 
strate. "Listen!  I  am  convinced  that  we  are 
puppets!  a  stronger  hand  than  ours  controls 
us!  Why  may  it  not  be  this  good  angel  that 
you  flatter  me  with  being,  but  wmich  comes  to 
your  rescue  and  will  place  you  without  there,  a 
free  man  ?" 

"Free!  bound  to  make  you  his  wife,  if  only 
for  this  act  of  charity!  but,  no!  you  are  de- 
ceived! Matamore,  merely  a  robber,  a  vaga- 
bond, stole  a  purse  or  set  the  blood  flowing  in 
a  paltry  affray.    I  have  killed  a  noble — " 

"Sa veiny,  dead!"  said  Marion  without  emo- 
tion, for  which  the  other  had  looked  with  jeal- 
ous suspicion. 

"And  in  the  teeth  of  an  express  edict  forbid- 
ding swordplay,  with  a  fatal  intent.  No,  I 
must  warn  you  that  my  star  in  evil.  I  am  ig- 
norant whence  I  came  but  I  foresee  that  my 
step  over  the  edge  is  into  blackness.  Marie,  re- 
ceive my  last  wish — a  prayer!  turn  from  me, 
as  if  that  man  whom  you  wish  me  to  personate 
were  here,  and  has,  indeed,  the  pest!  Leave 
me  alone  to  pursue  my  lonely  road,  a  short  one 
now !  Alas!  before  I  long  went  down  this  road 
1  was  aweary  of  it;  it  is  a  hard  journey  where 
the    sun    rises    cloudy  and  the  morning  sky 


278     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

weeps;  and  the  sun  goes  down  red  and  the 
clouds  howl  in  wrath!  The  bed  that  is  kept  for 
me,  cold  with  ice,  is  too  narrow  for  more  than 
one!" 

"Your  hand  is  cold,"  said  she;  "but  your 
heart  must  ever  warm  to  me!  Let  us  live  in 
the  shadow,  though  it  be  of  the  disgraceful  gal- 
lows! let  me  share  your  flight!  at  least,  let 
me  be  the  fellow-fugitive  with  you!" 

She  clung  to  him  and  twined  her  fingers  as 
if  inextricably. 

"Admit  that  I  escape,"  said  he,  "do  you  re- 
flect that  misery  will  attend  every  step  we  take 
in  exile?  My  petty  patrimony  will  be  confis- 
cated! my  rag  of  a  name — I  must  change  that! 
stealing  one  that  must  be  better!  though  it  is 
a  beggar's — at  least,  his  father  and  mother  left 
him  that!  Perhaps,  would  follow  us  long  sor- 
rows in  the  tears  of  which  the  lustre  of  these 
eyes  would  finally  be  extinguished!" 

She  slipped  from  his  arms  as  he  was  about 
to  press  his  lips  to  her  eyes,  and  fell  on  a  stone 
bench,  burying  her  head  in  her  hands. 

"I  vow  to  you  that  this  picture  is  as  true  as 
that  the  fortune-teller  showed  you !  I  pity  you, 
for  this  prospect  terrifies  me!  Away  and  return 
no  more!" 

She  rose  and,  through  her  sobs,  cried  in  a 
strangled  voice: 

"Kill  me,  but  do  not  speak  in  that  vein!" 

"Marie,"  said  Didier,  taking  her  in  his  arms, 
"my  treasure!  why  shed  so  many  tears,  when 
I  would  lay  down  my  life  to  prevent  the  out- 
pouring of  one  alone!  Do  with  me  what  you 
will;  come  with  me,  if  I  may  go  hence,  under 
any  name  you  choose.  You  shall  be  my  for- 
tune, my  glory,  my  future!" 

"You  cut  me  to  the  heart  by  what  you  said," 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  27<? 

she  responded,  disengaging  herself  from   the 
embrace. 

lit1  fell  on  his  knees,  on  the  granite  flags,  and 
bent  over  her  hand  which  he  seized. 
"I  hurt  you,  for  whom  I  would  die?" 
"You  are  cruel  to  make  me  weep — I  who 
have  never  wept  so  much  as  since  I  knew  you!" 
said  the  favorite  of  Paris,  recalling  her  past  of 
festivity  and  adoration. 

How  handsome  she  was,  though  in  the  twi- 
light of  a  prison  cell! 

A  marked  hut  careful  rapping  on  the  wicket 
aroused  him  from  his  contemplation. 

"Is  it  all  a  dream !  have  they  come  to  awaken 
me  on  the  scaffold?"  cried  he,  groping  as  it 
were  for  a  weapon,  not  to  be  forced  apart  from 
his  idol. 

She  sprang  to  the  door,  full  of  the  same  fore- 
boding as  racked  him. 

The  wicket  slid  back  and  she  saw  not  the 
jailer,  but  the  Capuchin. 

She  recognised  the  Cardinal's  familiar,  but  a 
bony  finger  laid  on  his  lips  made  the  almost 
universal  sign  for  silence.  The  expression  of 
his  visage,  as  far  as  the  double  shadow  of  the 
corridor  and  his  cowl  permitted  to  be  seen, 
still  farther  imposed  prudence. 

Marion  said  nothing,  therefore,  and  as  her 
face  was  turned  from  the  prisoner,  the  latter 
perceived  nothing  unusual. 

"There  need  be  no  alarm,"  said  she.  "I  must 
go.    If  I  can,  expect  me  to-morrow!" 

The  door  opened  and  she  darted  out,  blowing 
him  a  kiss. 

Father  Joseph  was  deaf  to  the  sigh  which 
Didier  heaved  at  this  disappearance.  He 
caught  Marion  by  the  arm  and  drew  her  up  to 
the  mouth  of  the  passage. 


280  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Have  you  cheered  him,  or  is  it  otherwise? 
for  I  see  tearmarks  on  your  cheek." 

"He  is  not  quite  so  unhappy,"  replied  she, 
dubiously. 

"You  shall  come  again  to-morrow  at  ten. 
This  kind  of  cordial  must  not  be  placed  within 
the  patient's  reach,"  said  Joseph,  smiling  grim- 
ly, "lest  he  take  too  much!  there  are  drugs 
which  fail  when  not  administered  in  guarded 
doses!" 

"I  may  see  him  to-morrow?"  exclaimed  Mar- 
ion with  a  transport  which  revealed  the  state 
of  her  heart. 

"Yes.  Meanwhile,  return  to  Dame  Rose's 
cottage.  To  her,  perfect  silence!  Here,  you  are 
Louisette  from  Paris  and  that  man  is  the  Mata- 
more  of  Mondori's  show." 

Marion  went  home  as  in  a  vision,  walking 
the  roseate  clouds  of  Love,  which  wear  a  black 
lining  towards  the  earth. 

For  the  first  time,  the  capricious,  ethereal 
creature,  who  had  imagined  that  she  ruled  in 
her  sphere,  felt  that  she  was  a  marionette  at 
the  beck  of  others. 

"Father  Joseph  busies  himself  on  behalf  of 
this  unknown  Didier!  Ah,  was  it  not  Madame 
de  Combalet  who  told  me  that  Joseph  never 
acted  in  any  matter  but  a  secret  of  State? 
What  secret  of  the  State  can  this  nameless 
youth  comprise  in  his  brain?" 

Marion,  with  all  her  experience  of  the  court, 
hardly  understood  that,  for  fifteen  years,  the 
State  wTas  another  title  for  Richelieu. 

Twice  again,  Marion  made  her  call;  it  was 
all  she  lived  for.  Didier  did  not  count  the  hours 
more  closely  than  she  did. 

"Why  are  you  so  grave?"  she  asked  on  the 
third  occasion. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED  281 

"Because  it  seems  a  momentous  event  over- 
hangs us!  I  am  not  accustomed  to  such  boons 
as  this  providential  assistance  to  enable  us  to 
meet,  and  I  fear  it  is  the  calm  before  the  tem- 
pest breaks.     Who  is  our  secret  friend?" 

To  have  bet  raved  her  knowledge  that  the 
Cardinal's  chief  agent  was  facilitating  this  in- 
terview in  favor  of  a  man  who  mocked  at  the 
Edict  which  he  dictated  and  countersigned, 
would  force  her  to  disclose  how  she  was  so 
deeply  acquainted  with  the  court.  This  revela- 
tion of  her  true  self  was  what  she  dreaded.  It 
would  instantaneously  strip  her  of  the  angelic 
robe  in  which  his  love  had  clothed  her. 

It  was  her  one  great  fear,  surpassing  all  oth- 
ers. How  would  he  bear  this  discovery,  with- 
held by  a  hair?  with  what  changed  vision 
would  he  look  upon  her? 

The  silence  oppressed  both  without  either 
venturing  to  speak.  They  were  like  those  ad- 
venturers in  the  Alps  who  pass  shuddering, 
but  trying  to  suppress  even  the  shudder,  under 
a  hanging  cliff  of  ice,  for  the  flutter  of  an 
eagle's  wing  might  precipitate  it  upon  them. 

This  breath  would  wreck  her  and  make  Did- 
ier  more  miserable  than  all  his  miserable  life 
had  known. 

The  last  time!  were  they  meeting  for  the 
last  time?  was  this  winked-at  meeting  only  a 
trick  of  the  cruel  Cardinal  to  add  a  new  terror 
to  the  death  under  which  Didier  lingered? 

There  was  a  stir  in  the  town;   a  horn  blew. 

They  glanced  at  one  another.  Was  it  the 
trumpet  to  cry  the  execution?  had  the  judge 
arrived  from  Paris  to  go  through  the  farce  of 
sentencing  a  man  to  death  who  had  convicted 
himself  by  drawing  his  sword  on  another,  un- 
der the  Edict  itself? 


282     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

She  turned  pale;  he  became  red,  proud  that 
he  should  mount  the  platform  with  so  immortal 
a  love  in  his  breast!  He  would  outlive  the 
world — for  this  passion  was  only  in  the  bud! 
the  fruition  would  be  in  another  sphere. 

"Do  they  come  to  part  us?"  said  Marion  in  a 
faint  voice  as  she  heard  steps  in  the  corridor. 

The  wicket  opened. 

"Mademoiselle  Louisette,  a  packet  from 
Paris;  the  courier  has  come." 

It  was  the  turnkey's  voice  and  his  brown, 
rough  hand  thrust  in  at  the  panel  a  packet 
sealed  and  bound  with  silk. 

Marion  had  not  the  force  to  take  it.  Didier 
did  so,  but  his  hand  was  thrilled  and  his  eyes 
were  dazed.  The  seal  was  the  broad  blood-red 
one  of  the  Minister. 

"Open  it,"  whispered  Marion,  as  the  warden 
went  away. 

Didier  opened  the  packet  and  read  the  docu- 
ment within  with  fevered  and  doubting  eyes. 

"Release  of  Diego,  alias  'Matamore/  play- 
actor, on  condition  of  his  quitting  the  kingdom 
in  fifteen  days." 

"You  are  Matamore  for  this  purpose,"  said 
Marion,  scarcely  audible  as  she  was  choking 
with  emotion.  "Let  us  hasten!  Who  knows 
but  the  real  Louisette  will  be  here,  at  the  heels 
of  so  welcome  a  courier!" 

"Louisette — the  real  one?" 

"It  is  the  name  of  a  servant  of  the  fortune- 
teller of  Paris,"  said  Marion,  surprised  at  his 
being  in  stupor.  "You  said  so!  I  am  personat- 
ing her,  do  you  not  bear  it  in  mind?  even  as 
you  are  supposed  to  be  Matamore,  who  is  re- 
leased." 

"Released?" 

"Yes;   we  must  go  forthwith!    Warder!"  she 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  283 

screamed  at  the  door.    "Good  news!  a  release! 
a  release!" 

"What,  may  we  go  out,  together?"  said  the 
man  with  stupefaction  slowly  diminishing.  "I 
am  to  be  free,  to  have  you  by  my  side?  to 
look  on  you  thus,  forever?" 

"Yes;  the  door  opens!  see!  come,  come!" 

"Wait!"  said  the  turnkey,  as  he  stood  in  the 
open  door,  suppressing  a  smile.  "This  is  no 
way  for  a  man  next  to  dead  of  his  wounds 
and  the  fever,  to  leave  the  Castle!  What  would 
they  cry  at  the  governor  and  the  officer  of  the 
day,  to  say  nothing  of  the  doctor  and  the  spirit- 
ual adviser,  if  we  thrust  a  dying  man  out,  on 
his  shaking  legs,  like  you  presume?  By  the 
tire  that  roasted  St.  Lawrence,  think  better  of 
us!  Here  is  the  hand-barrow.  Take  that  coun- 
terpane and  envelop  our  poor  Matamore,  if  you 
prize  him  in  the  least,  Damsel  Louisette!  Oh, 
you  need  not  show  me  the  release!  The  gov- 
ernor has  read  his  official  advice  of  it,  before 
you !" 

Marion  was  stupor-stricken.  She  witnessed, 
with  blurred  vision,  two  sub- warders  enwrap 
Didier  in  the  bedclothing  and  extend  him  on  a 
litter  which  they  took  up.  She  followed,  with 
her  heart  so  cold  that  she  might  seem  to  be 
attending  the  dying,  indeed. 

At  the  little  door  in  the  great  gateway — for 
what  honors  did  a  playactor  and  vagabond  ex- 
pect? the  Capuchin  was  waiting.  Others  kept 
at  a  distance  from  him. 

The  doctor  held  a  bottle  of  disinfecting  vine- 
gar to  his  nose. 

He  lifted  the  cloth  a  little  from  Didier's  face 
and  let  it  fall. 

"It  is  my  patient,"  said  he  quickly. 


284  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Certify  in  the  book,"  said  the  governor,  with 
a  similar  impatience. 

The  door  closed.  The  prisoner  and  Marion, 
with  the  litter-bearers,  were  in  the  free  air! 

Marion  clasped  her  hands  and  paused  in  a 
prayer  of  gratitude.  When  she  resumed  the 
pursuit,  the  litter  had  gained  the  Grand 
Street. 

"Whither  are  you  taking  him?"'  she  said,  dis- 
tressed as  if  all  so  far  was  so  good  that  it  must 
turn  to  the  bad. 

''To  Signor  MondoiTs  theatre,"  replied  one. 
"They  are  pulling  it  to  pieces  and  packing  up, 
but  still  some  of  his  caravan  are  on  the 
ground." 

Ten  minutes  afterwards,  with  a  vivacitv  and 
intelligence  contrasting  with  the  renewed  be- 
wilderment of  Marion  and  her  charge,  who 
fretted  in  his  hoodwinked  and  enforced  inac- 
tivity, Signor  Mondori,  a  plump  little  Italian 
with  a  black  face  which  enabled  him  to  enact 
the  Boabdil  without  coloring  his  skin,  received 
"his  dear  old"  Matamore  with  effusion  of  joy. 

"The  very  stopgap  we  wanted,"  said  he,  while 
the  two  men  carried  the  litter  under  the  canvas 
of  a  tent  not  yet  struck  down,  to  the  annoy- 
ance of  the  rabble  which  had  followed  the  little 
procession.  "This  is  the  finest  Matamore 
known  in  the  theatrical  profession  from  Basle 
to  Blois!  Look  at  the  figure  of  him — long  legs 
as  if  he  were  a  cork  ball  on  compasses!  he  has 
a  round,  strong  voice  so  that  you  could  hear 
him  from  the  church  to  the  other  side  of  the 
bridge!  You  who  have  never  seen  true  acting, 
must  wait  till  he  pulls  himself  together  again, 
and  when  he  rushes  on  to  avenge  the  loss  of  the 
noble  old  man's  daughter,  or  niece,  just  see  him 
run  the  wicked  Moor  through  the  midriff!    Oh, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  285 

J  toll  you  lliis  Matamore  is  fine!  Now,  our  com- 
pany is  complete  enough  to  go  back  and  cany 
Paris  by  storm !" 

Marion  bad  lingered  at  tbe  marquee  door- 
way, irresolute,  still  doubting  that  a  scheme 
could  be  so  artfully  planned  and  neatly  carried 
out.     Mondori  bowed  to  her  respectfully. 

"You  have  tbe  jet-black  eye  for  the  Xime- 
nas,"  continued  be.  "You  shall  play  the  fiery 
mistress  of  the  champions!"  Then,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  crowd  of  citizens  departing  and 
his  own  satellites  being  engaged  in  clearing 
the  ground  of  the  last  appurtenances  of  this 
portable  theatre,  he  drew  Marion  into  the  door- 
way, where  tbe  pinned-up  flap  concealed  them 
somewhat,  and  said  in  a  less  flippant  voice: 

"We  shall  be  out  of  the  town  limits  in  an 
hour.  Take  some  soup  with  my  daughters  and 
give  him,  in  there,  a  glass  of  Oporto.  Mark! 
You  are  members  of  my  troupe.  Why  the  lady 
should  travel  as  the  hospital  nurse  for  the  gen- 
tleman,  as  hale  as  my  hand;  whether  you  are 
man  and  wife  or  mere  tender  lovers,  fleeing  the 
Law;  or  pure  necromancers  who  want  to  make 
the  Fair  One  with  the  Goldy  Locks  a  captive 
in  some  tower  grim — these  things  disturb  me 
not  a  doit!"  He  winked  roguishly.  "You  are 
Senora  Maria  and  he  is  Don  Matamore,  whom  I 
have  known  since  he  was  a  boy  and  played  the 
motive  power  in  the  inwards  of  the  golden 
eagle  on  which  Messire  Jupiter  descends  from 
the  skies  to  save  the  hero,  in  'Jason  in  Jeop- 
ardy,' by  M.  Hardy.  Lively,  lads!  We  must 
be  far  on  the  road  by  nightfall!"  he  concluded, 
cheering  on  his  men. 

While  the  theat  rical  caravan  was  leaving  the 
town  by  one  way,  an  equipage  of  formidable 
character  was  approaching  by  the  opposite. 


2SS  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XX. 

"IT  IS  A  WISE  CHILD—" 

The  cortege  was  as  real  and  imposing  as  the 
theatrical  train  was  artificial  and  humorous 
withal  its  pretensions. 

Since  the  roads  were  far  from  safe,  reports 
of  the  doings  of  Malargue's  gang  prevailing 
up  to  the  gates  of  Paris,  Captain  Cavoye,  chief 
of  the  Cardinal-Minister's  military  establish- 
ment, had  detailed  twenty-five  men,  not  includ- 
ing officers,  of  the  arquebusiers,  armed  for 
battle,  to  escort  a  noted  member  and  represen- 
tative of  the  ministerial  household.  They  sur- 
rounded and  cleared  the  way  for  a  ponderous 
coach  nearly  as  large,  and  almost  as  gaudily 
gilded,  as  the  living-wagon  of  Signor  Mondori. 
Its  enormous  body,  garnished  with  Venetian 
plate-glass  panels,  swung  on  immense  leather 
straps,  baldrics  for  a  giant  in  "Orlando  Furi- 
oso,"  and  clattered  as  all  crunched  in  the  ruts 
and  ground  to  atoms  the  large  stones,  strewn 
in  the  mire  like  plums  in  a  pudding.  These 
were  left  by  the  carters,  good,  honest  souls,  af- 
ter having  used  them  to  stay  the  wheels  on 
declivities,  to  do  the  same  service  to  others — 
but  they  were  terribly  in  the  way  of  those  who 
did  not  require  them. 

In  this  vehicle,  a  small  room  on  wheels,  sat, 
with  a  secretary  and  an  armed  guard,  Master 
of  Requests  Laffemas,  specially  appointed  to 
try  the  first  case  arising  under  the  Royal  Edict 
against  duelling. 

It  was  dusk  as  this  carriage  rolled  upon  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  28? 

bridge,  whore  it  was  stopped.     The  gentleman 

noticed  the  repairs  and  was  under  sonic  appre- 
hension that  the  planks  would  not  bear  the 
weight  of  his  conveyance. 

So  he  alighted,  enjoyed  the  deference  with 
which  the  bridgeware!  and  his  guard  received 
him,  with  apologies  for  the  governor  and  Mayor 
not  being  on  the  spot. 

"I  cannot  account  for  their  delay,"  began  the 
bridge-keeper,  "for  you  were  seen  coming, 
but—" 

At  this  instant,  a  gun  was  fired  on  the  Castle 
ramparts. 

"But  they  are  saluting,"  added  the  man,  bow- 
ing again. 

"Saluting!  So  is  your  squeaking  old  shoe 
saluting!''  corrected  the  sergeant  of  the  guard. 
''That  is  a  single  gun!  Look!  It  repeats  its 
fire.  And,  see!  The  gay  flag  is  lowered  and 
up  goes — the  black  flag,  by  all  that  is  fiendish! 
A  prisoner  has  escaped!  and  one  under  sen- 
tence of  death,  too!" 

"A  prisoner,  escaped?"  reiterated  Laffemas, 
turning  green  with  anticipatory  disappoint- 
ment and  twisting  his  head  on  its  long  neck 
like  a  vulture  from  which  was  snatched  a  bone. 

Sinking  his  dignity,  catching  up  his  gown  in 
one  hand  and  holding  his  portfolio  in  the  other, 
he  rushed  up  the  ascent  toward  the  Castle,  fol- 
lowed by  his  private  guardsman  and  secretary, 
who  had  trouble  to  keep  up  with  his  vehement 
pace. 

In  front  of  the  Castle,  a  woman  was  kneel 
ing  beside  a  man,  ignominiously  tossed  down 
on  the  sward,  upon  his  own  tattered  long  cloak. 
At  a  distance,  some  holding  their  noses,  stood 
soldiers  and  citizens. 

"Don't   go  near!    It   is  the  plague!"   cried 


288  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

they  on  seeing  the  judge  and  his  retinue  strid- 
ing up  the  hill. 

Laffemas  stopped  short.  His  two  immediate 
companions  almost  ran  against  him.  This 
cheek  allowed  the  arquebusiers  to  march  up, 
followed  by  the  coach,  and  the  judge's  arrival 
was  made  a  little  more  imposing. 

At  the  gate  stood  the  governor,  waving  his 
hat  in  welcome  but  evidently  determined  not 
to  leave  that  cover  until  this  dead  body  was 
carted  away. 

Two  scavengers  arrived  with  a  barrow.  It 
had  served  for  the  removal  of  Didier  and  was 
abandoned  after  the  departure  of  the  dramatic 
cohort  which  escorted  him. 

On  their  lifting  the  body  and  placing  it  on 
the  litter,  with  repugnance  making  the  wit- 
nesses shudder,  strange  in  such  men,  the  poor 
woman  rose  and  tearfully  accompanied  the 
spurned  outcast. 

At  this  juncture,  not  knowing  why  he  was 
so  espewed,  an  old  woman  came  up  at  the 
best  speed  of  which  she  was  capable. 

"Louisette!"  she  exclaimed,  in  amazement. 

At  her  name,  the  girl  by  the  litter  turned  her 
head,  but  it  was  plain  that  she  did  not  recog- 
nise the  stranger  appealing  to  her  but  who 
knew  her  well. 

"Dame  Rose!"  muttered  Laffemas.  "My 
mother!  She  knows  her  own  maid,  but  why 
does  she  almost  surrender  the  secret  into  the 
power  of  these  gawks  and  petrifactions? 
What  is  the  meaning  of  this  obstacle  to  my 
reception,  and  who  has  escaped  the  prison?" 

"Didier,  your  'case,'  has  got  away!"  said  the 
governor,  coming  forward  as  soon  as  the  litter 
was  far  removed. 

"Didier,  escaped?"  echoed     Laffemas,  clap- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  289 

ping  his  hand  to  his  forehead  and  lotting  his 
gown    fall.     "Impossible!" 
"But,  enter!"  continued  tho  governor,  an  old 

soldier,  who  had  been  hint  by  the  guest's  ir- 
regular arrival. 

Ho  would  not  saj  a  word,  until  they  were 
in  his  room. 

The  doctor  and  the  chaplain  stood  by.  Tho 
latter's  aid  had  left  the  Castle. 

''This  is  the  way  of  it,"  said  the  Captain  of 
Blois,  "as  these  gentlemen,  doctor  and  chap- 
lain, will  bear  me  out,  where  my  tale  wants 
confirmation. 

"We  kept  two  prisoners  here,  in  the  same 
part  of  the  old  prison,  your  Didier,  a  native  of 
Blois,  under  arrest  for  duelling  despite  the 
mandate,  and  one  Matamore,  a  play-actor  who 
was  suffering  from  sword- wounds — " 

"And  delirium  tremens"  interposed  the  doc- 
tor. 

"This  developed  into  a  palpable  case  of  the 
pest.  So  we  had  the  actor  isolated.  By  a 
blunder  of  the  warder,  however,  on  his  return 
from  the  promenade,  Didier  was  shown  into  the 
room  of  the  actor,  and  as  the  latter  was  shifted 
elsewhere  for  health's  sake,  no  one  perceived 
tho  change — " 

"No  one?" 

"Oh,  the  turnkey,  of  course,  but  discipline, 
dear  judge!  No  one  here  questions — they 
obev!  So  the  turnkey  brought  Didier  the 
bread  and  soup  which  he  would  have  brought 
to  the  other,  with  the  same  unconcern. 
Through  this  mistake,  a  singular  event  oc- 
curred: There  came  from  Paris  one  Louisette, 
a  very  pretty  girl,  with  notice  forerunning  her, 
that  she  had  obtained  the  release  of  her  gal- 
lant, this  Matamore.  the  tragic  actor!" 


290     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Ah!  you  had  notice  he  was  to  be  released, 
eh?"  broke  in  Laffemas. 

"Certainly.  A  pretty  state  of  things  if  we 
were  to  let  out  prisoners  on  production  of  pa- 
pers purporting  to  be  pardons  and  releases, 
considering  the  number  of  blank  letters  with 
the  royal  signature  afloat!" 

"Not  many  with  the  Cardinal's  counter-sig- 
nature!" interrupted  the  judge,  sarcastically. 

"Well,  we  received  our  incontestable  notice 
so  that  when,  two  days  after,  that  is,  this  day, 
Louisette  produced  the  release,  we  liberated 
the  supposed  Matamore — that  is,  the  tenant  of 
his  cell." 

"But  Louisette—" 

"Oh,  not  that  Louisette  out  on  the  esplanade! 
another,  one  to  whom  she  could  not  hold  a  can- 
dle to  light  her  to  dress!  Though  she  is  a 
pretty  thing — " 

"Another  Louisette!  Another  Matamore!" 
cried  Laffemas,  exasperated. 

"Yes,  it  puts  me  in  remembrance  of  a  com- 
edy we  acted  at  Angers,  when  I  was  a  pupil 
of  the  Loyolaist  Fathers — the  'Two  Dromios.' 
In  short,  we  let  out  Louisette  I.  and  her  Mata- 
more, who  was  Didier,  and  when  we  came  to 
see  that  Didier  was  presentable  for  your  ex- 
amination, since  your  coach  was  espied  by  the 
lookout  in  the  tower,  lo!  it  was  this  vagabond 
Matamore,  dead  as  a  bleak  on  the  strand! 
Dead  of  the  plague — " 

"The  plague!"  repeated  Dr.  Themines.  "I 
have  had  his  room,  the  passages  and  the  whole 
route  which  his  corpse  followed,  washed  with 
charcoal  water  and  proof-vinegar!" 

Laffemas  had  listened  with  consternation, 
but  in  the  time  he  had  regained  his  wits. 
There  was  too  much  happy  accident  in  such  an 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  291 

escape  to  content  him.  He  looked  round  suspi- 
ciously, but  the  laces  of  doctors,  chaplains  and 
governors — of  prisons,  are  not  usually  maps  on 
which  the  mind  tracings  are  to  be  read. 

He  bit  his  lip. 

"Let  me  see  the  release,"  said  he,  after  the 
pause.  "Cheret,"  he  added  to  his  secretary, 
"go  out  on  the  parade,  and  bring  me  in  the  old 
woman  who  called  by  name  the  mourner  be- 
side the  plague-stricken  man." 

A  room  was  ready  for  him.  He  installed 
himself  in  it;  took  the  refreshment  he  needed 
after  his  journey  and  the  shock  of  baffled  spite, 
and  meditated,  lonely,  at  length. 

Dame  Rose  came  in. 

Judge  Laffemas  dismissed  his  secretary  with 
order  to  stand  at  the  door  with  his  guard,  and 
allow  no  interruption. 

''Mother,"  said  he,  in  a  low  voice  and  bend- 
ing toward  her,  where  he  had  seated  her  at 
the  table.  "Was  that  Louisette  bv  the  dead 
man?" 

"That  was  mv  Louisette,  mv  trusted  maid  at 
Paris,  when  I  acted  the  soothsayer  so  admir- 
ably, thanks  to  the  full  and  profound  informa- 
tion on  my  patrons  that  you  afforded  me." 

"What  would  I  be  head  of  the  Cardinal's  se- 
cret service  for,  if  I  could  not  do  that?  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  you  gathered  much  of  value 
to  us,"  said  Laffemas,  nodding  loftily  and 
gratefully.  "You  are  sharp  in  spite  of  your 
years.  Now,  how  is  that  vou  have  been 
gulled?  I  repeat,  gulled;  for  here,  you  should 
have  watched  for  me,  and  prevented  the  escape 
of  Didier.  My  laurels  are  at  stake!  This  case, 
the  first  under  the  Edict,  would  have  formed 
the  step  on  which  I  rise  to  oust  that  fellow 


292     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

d'Argenson!  I  long  to  be  Lieutenant-Crimi- 
nal !" 

"I  have  been  played  like  a  fish,  my  son!" 
whimpered  Rose.  "An  arch-devil  was  at  work 
all  the  while  and  though  I  had  her  under  my 
hand,  she  acted  so  acutely  and  finely  that  I 
never  suspected  her  in  the  slightest  degree." 

"What  arch-devils  are  there  in  sleepy  Blois?" 

"Oh,  this  one  came  from  the  capital.  It  is 
Marion — " 

"Do  you  mean  Marion  Delorine?  True,  still 
missing  from  Paris — " 

"She  did  not  return  to  Paris!  She  remained 
here,  with  that  gallant,  for  the  greater  evil  to 
Marquis  Saverny!  Malargue  and  Matamore, 
both  useful  knaves,  who  served  me  well  when 
I  masked  as  the  fortune-teller.  Through  her 
influence  at  court,  I  dare  say,  she  procured — 
not  the  release  of  Didier — impossible  thing  for 
one  infringing  the  royal  decree — but  for  Mata- 
more. Then  she  palmed  herself  off  upon  the 
officers  of  the  prison  as  my  maid  Louisette, 
while  I  believed  she  was  strolling  under  the 
prison  windows  or  along  the  river,  moping  in 
lovelorn  solitude!  While  I  was  having  my 
nap,  she  was  concerting  with  her  Didier  how  to 
escape." 

"Well,  how  have  they  escaped?" 

"How  do  I  know?  You  are  very  severe  with 
me!" 

"Not  at  all !  On  the  contrary,  take  the  pasty, 
and  the  wine!  You  were  always  fond  of  lux- 
uries! Or  never  would  you  have  succored  the 
poachers  and  taken  toll,  I  warrant,  of  the  con- 
tents of  warren  and  preserve  and  deer  park." 

He  poured  her  out  some  wine  and  filled  his 
own  glass  again.     Then  drawing  his  own  knife, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  393 

he  cut  the  pasty  and  served  her.     No  son  could 
be  more  attentive.     She  smiled  again. 
"Yes,  they  were  rare  old  times!"  sighed  she. 

"Marion  is  no  fool!  she  has  often  deceived 
those  to  whom  we  are  but  wooden  figures," 
said  he,  consolingly. 

The  old  woman  was  about  making  a  gesture 
of  contempt,  but  there  might  be  too  much 
truth  in  her  son's  remark  and  she  let  her  hand 
drop. 

"It  is  a  proverb  at  court  that  it  is  better 
to  be  her  ally  than  her  antagonist!  Besides, 
the  new  shuffle  of  the  cards  has  it  that  she 
did  not  flee  in  the  direction  of  Chambord  for 
nothing.  The  Prince  of  Orleans  has  always 
been  infatuated  with  her,  as  much  as  he  can 
be  with  any  woman." 

"He  would  come  to  Blois,  even  if  Marion 
had  stayed,  for  his  pains.  She  loves  this  Di- 
dier  with  all  the  absorbing  passion  of  a  first 
and  only  love." 

"First  and  only  fiend!"  growled  Laffemas, 
with  a  grimace  as  if  an  internal  cord  were 
twisted.  "Will  you  never  cease  harping  on 
that  string?" 

"Of  course,  I  do  not  believe  in  fate,  though 
its  arch-minister  at  times,  but — " 

"I  doubt  that  you  believe  in  anything!" 
snarled  the  judge. 

"But  some  would  say  that  it  was  a  stroke  of 
fate  that  he  should  be  presented  to  her  in  mv 
Well  of  Truth." 

"Well  of  balderdash!     But  how  came  that?" 

"Louisette  had  replaced  the  actor  Matamore, 
who  sneezed  during  an  apparition,  by  that 
thievish  bully  Malargue.  Malargue  had  an  en- 
counter with  Didier,  who  was  seeking  advent- 
ures in  Paris,  and  was  pitched  into  the  river. 


294     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Louisette  took  Didier  for  a  temporary  assistant 
in  my  tricks,  and  I,  not  knowing,  of  course,  who 
was  below-stairs,  bade  Marion  look  into  the 
peeping-tube.  She  saw  Didier.  It  appears  that 
they  both  fell  in  love,  on  the  instant." 

"You  were  very  much  Marion's  friend — " 

"There!  in  that?"  cried  Rose  querulously. 
"It  led  her  to  renounce  her  life  of  pleasure, 
riches,  brightness,  revelry,  to  be  tagged  to  the 
sword-knot  of  a  nobody,  who  is  under  sentence 
of  death  and  wandering  Lord  knows  whither!" 

"You  are  a  rarity,  mother!"  said  Laffemas,  as 
if  changing  the  subject,  but  still  pursuing  his 
aim.  "You  are  the  only  one  who  has  lived  an 
hour  with  Marion  and  not  been  bewitched  by 
her." 

"I  hate  her!  and  you  must  hate  her,  too.  If 
she  marries  this  Didier,  and  she  is  capable  of 
committing  matrimony  to  gain  her  end!  mark 
you  she  will  not  let  the  secret  of  his  birth  rest! 
A  man  may  be  content  to  dwell  humble  and 
unknown  in  some  distant  Eden  corner,  but  a 
woman  who  may  secure  a  title — never!  She 
will  wed  for  love;  she  has  a  fortune;  and  she 
will  employ  that  fortune  to  discover  his  par- 
ents!" 

"I  agree  with  you."  His  eyes  were  baleful. 
"Has  she  sounded  you  on  the  point?  Have  you 
blabbed  anvthing?" 

"I?" 

"You  are  getting  old,  and  the  old  are  gar- 
rulous without  knowing  how  badly!  Has  she 
any  idea?" 

"I  want  to  see  you  Lieutenant-Criminal,  as 
the  good  Dominican  promises.  I  want  to  see 
you  in  ermine  and  blue — " 

"Hold!     What  Dominican?      The     chaplain 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  295 

here — there  is  no  other  that  I  Unow  of  in 
Blois." 

"The  one  who  has  replaced  him  while  he  was 
sick." 

"Indeed!  He  was  among  the  officials  who 
greeted  me,  with  little  eagerness  and  no  cor- 
diality," said  "the  Executioner"  of  Lis  Emi- 
nence; "this  chaplain,  whom  I  know,  as  he  is 
a  friend  of  our  Father  Carre.  He  did  not  look 
ill?" 

"I  only  know  what  the  soldiers  gossiped. 
This  Dominican,  for  he  wore  the  dress  of  the 
black  friars— called  himself  'The  Clerk.'  I," 
she  went  on,  hesitating,  without  being  able  to 
distinguish  the  kind  of  apprehension  suddenly 
tilling  her  as  she  felt  that  her  hearer  had  grown 
cold  toward  her  without  losing  any  degree  of 
his  interest  in  her  communication,  "I  was  only 
too  glad  to  use  him  as  my  agent  in  correspond- 
ing, through  Marion,  with  the  imprisoned  Di- 
dier." 

"Oh,"  cried  Laffemas,  knitting  his  brows, 
"you,  you  facilitated  the  communication  of 
Marion  and  her  lover?     Eh,  eh?" 

"I  wished  to  lull  them  till  you  arrived;  to 
lift  that  young  man's  soul  with  love  so  that  he 
should  suffer  like  the  Fallen  Angel  when  he 
dropped  out  of  her  arms  into  the  hands  of  the 
executioner!" 

"You  hate  him,  too — and  you  assisted  in  his 
escape?" 

"I  have  been  cheated,  I  suppose!  Then, 
haste  and  overtake  them!  Didier  is  your 
game,  by  royal  precept;  Marion — you  can  en- 
tangle her  in  some  plot  that  will  award  her 
death!  Say  she  was  here  to  concoct  regicide 
with  Prince  Gaston — " 

"Very  well !     But  you  are  letting  the  bubbles 


29f>  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

die  on  jour  white  wine,  mother!  Have  an- 
other! and  more  of  the  pasty!  The  aged  should 
fare  well,  the  little  time  they  have  here  to  feast 
before  they  sup  in  Paradise,  and  compare  the 
edibles  of  this  lower  world  with  the  ambrosia 
above!" 

Rose  held  out  her  plate,  but  his  manner  was 
strange. 

"I  will  begin  the  chase,"  said  he,  averting  his 
glance,  and  using  his  own  knife  to  carve  her 
the  slice  of  pie.     "Didier  must  die!" 

"He  must  soon  die!"  said  she;  "too  long  he 
has  lived,  your  standing  menace!" 

"He,  a  Didier,  a  menace  to  me!" 

"Can  you  not  guess  why?  Because — "  she 
leant  over  to  him  and  whispered  in  his  ear: 
"Jean,  you  are  in  his  place." 

"I?  Has  he  aspirations  to  be  Master  of  Re- 
quests?" 

"He  is  the  Cardinal's  son!"  said  Rose,  so 
terribly  clear  that  his  laugh  was  cut  in  short. 

"Then,  I—" 

"You  are  my  own  grandson!  Has  not  every- 
thing shown  that?" 

"I  do  not  doubt  that!  It  remains  to  show 
vou  that  I  am  truly  vour  son!"  returned  Laffe- 
mas,  with  odd  emphasis. 

He  rose  steadily,  having  drunk  little.  He 
wiped  his  knife  with  care  and  put  the  napkin 
which  he  used  in  his  pocket,  no  doubt  through 
inadvertence.  Yet,  men  of  style  still  carried 
table-ware. 

"Stay  here,  mother,  and  have  a  nap.  If  any 
one  comes,  simply  say  that  I  engaged  you  to 
keep  my  room  in  order.  I  shall  make  this  my 
headquarters  while  I  pursue  and  bring  back 
this  Didier.  who,  by  all  that  liveth,  must  die, 
as  you  say!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  297 

''Then  you  must  be  so  high  that  none  can 
pull  you  down:" 

"Or  bo  Ear  away  that  a  certain  long  arm  can- 
not roach  inc.*' 

"That  is  better!  Take  me  with  you!  Let 
us  go  where  1  went  in  my  younger  days — where 
the  sky  is  cloudless  the  longer  half  of  the 
year;  where  we  might  have  a  host  of  slaves  to 
tender  to  our  least  caprices!  India!  It  is 
lovely  for  the  rich!" 

"A  good  suggestion!  Be  comfortable!  I 
may  not  be  long!  A  fugitive  like  that,  and 
a  chief  of  the  State  police!  It  is  uneven  bat- 
tle! You  are  sure,"  he  said,  passing  in  don- 
ning a  travelling  dress  instead  of  his  judicial 
robes  and  belongings,  "that  we  alone  possess 
this  secret!" 

"You  and  I  alone,  my  dear  boy !" 

He  returned  to  her,  led  her  to  a  sofa  and 
tenderly  drew  his  black  gown  over  her,  press- 
ing the  fur  collar  up  round  her  neck. 

"I  am  drowsy,"  she  said.  "So  much  stress 
on  my  mind  and  heart — " 

"Best!"  said  he,  kissing  her  filially  on  the 
forehead. 

At  the  door  he  turned  to  look  back.  She 
had  her  eyes  fixed  on  him  proudly,  affection- 
ately, absorbedly,  and  yet  inquiringly. 

He  hastily  sprang  out  and  shut  the  door. 

His  secretary  and  his  guardsman  stood  there, 
like  statues. 

"Come  with  me,"  he  said  to  the  former. 
"Stay,  you,  till  relieved  by  the  sergeant  of  the 
arquebusiers.  Let  no  one  pass  in  there.  The 
woman  whom  I  have  engaged  for  housekeeper 
is  setting  out  my  things.  If  I  do  not  return, 
she  may  remain  there  all  the  night." 


298  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

They  were  used  to  his  ways,  and  never  ven- 
tured to  question. 

He  descended  through  the  devious  passages 
of  the  Castle,  piloted  by  his  secretary  who  had 
some  knowledge  of  the  place  already. 

When  they  emerged  on  the  broad  space, 
three  o'clock  was  striking. 

"Who  would  be  called  'the  Clerk,'  in  the 
Dominican  Order?"  he  asked  abruptly. 

"I  know  no  such  officer  in  that  fraternity, 
but,  master,"  replied  the  scribe  with  a  paling 
face,  "is  not  Father  Joseph  'Le-Clerc  du  Trem- 
blav?' " 

Laffemas  stopped  and  made  as  though  to 
retrace  his  steps,  biting  his  lip  and  turning 
pale  likewise. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  299 


CHArTER  XXL 
A  WOMAN  WITHOUT  JEALOUSY 

But  a  young  girl,  weeping  in  her  coquettish 
little  apron,  almost  jostled  him,  so  blinded  was 
she  with  grief,  and  he  caught  her  by  the  arm. 

"Louisette!"  he  exclaimed. 

The  girl  dropped  her  apron  and  stared  at  a 
stranger  so  familiarly  accosting  her,  in  Blois, 
of  all  places. 

"It  is  well!"  said  he.  "lama  friend!  I  was 
a  patron  of  your  cave  in  the  Blanchapelle  Lane! 
But  you,  who  were  so  bright,  you  are  in  tears!" 

"So  would  you  be  in  tears  if  you  had  fresh 
come  from  the  pauper's  grave  of  your  gal- 
lant!" retorted  the  girl  pertly. 

"Which  gallant?"  said  Laffemas,  smiling  in 
her  face.  "Malargue,  Matamore,  or  their  sub- 
stitute?" 

"Sir!" 

"Oh,  hark  ye!  Do  not  play  the  prude  with 
me!  A  Parisian!  Pshaw!  Whom  have  we 
been  burying?" 

Louisette  shook  a  tear  out  of  her  eye  and 
responded: 

"That  poor  Matamore!  Malargue,  having 
survived  a  drenching  in  the  Seine,  came  down 
to  this  unlucky  place  to  break  his  neck  in  flee- 
ing from  a  sword !  Matamore  has  died  of  fever 
from  his  wounds!  also,  a  sword!" 

"You  may  say  the  same  sword,"  observed  the 
Cardinal's  "Man  of  the  High  Works,"  emphati- 
cally.    "My  bereaved  lass,  you  have  to  thank 


300  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Master  Didier,  Number  Three  in  your  lovers' 
list,  for  the  sharp  divorce  of  steel." 

"They  were  slain  by  that  Didier?" 

"They  owe  their  death  to  him!  decidedly! 
Ask  anyone  who  knows!  This  gentleman! 
M.  Cheret,  is  not  this  truth?" 

The  secretary  bowed  and  in  an  oily  voice  re- 
plied: 

"The  deaths  of  Messieurs  Malargue  and  Mat- 
amore  are  due  to  Master  Didier,  it  is  on  rec- 
ord!" 

"The  brave  fellow!  To  kill  such  splendid 
fighting-men!" 

"Tut,  tut!"  exclaimed  Laffemas,  surprised  at 
the  outburst  which  he  had  not  in  the  faintest 
degree  expected.  "Perhaps,  though,  you  will 
not  applaud  him  when  you  hear  that  he  has  es- 
caped from  prison — " 

"The  daring  fellow!  Escaped  from  that 
monstrous  pile!"  she  clapped  her  hands. 
"Why,  he  is  a  hero!" 

The  Master  of  the  Bequests  Court  was  at  a 
loss  what  to  say.  This  enthusiasm  where  he 
had  thought  to  kindle  enmity  made  him  lower 
his  head. 

"I  shall  be  glad  to  tell  him  so." 

"Oh,  will  you?  Theu,  perhaps,  you  know 
whither  he  has  gone?" 

"I  can  guess,  sir!  I  followed  poor  Matamore 
to  the  grave." 

"It  was  verily  Matamore?" 

"No  doubt!  Therefore,  the  supposed  Mata- 
more, removed  under  royal  order  of  release  be- 
cause he  had  not  an  hour  to  live  in  his  fever 
— that  must  have  been  the  prisoner  who  es- 
caped !    Clever  man !" 

"You  argue  like  that  owl-eyed  Laubarde- 
mont!     Go  on!     That  was  Didier." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  301 

"They  took  him  to  his  supposed  comrades,  of 
course!" 

"Of  course!     Aud  these  comrades — " 

"Were  the  actors  of  Signor  Mondori  who 
have  been  three  days  performing  on  the  Grand 
Square!" 

"How  kind!  To  let  him  die  among  his  com- 
rades! His  playfellows!  Thoughtful  releaser! 
Bless  the  King  and  Cardinal!" 

"To  say  nothing,"  added  Louisette,  archly, 
"of  the  plague  being  imparted  to  the  rogues! 
Depend  on  it,  the  clergy  had  a  hand  in  this 
act  of  mercy,  in  order  to  rid  the  country  of 
the  actors!" 

"Gone  with  Mondori's  troupe!''  exclaimed 
Laffemas,  exultantly. 

"What  have  I  said?"  and  the  girl  wrung  her 
hands,  frightened  by  the  fiendish  gladness  she 
had  evoked. 

"That  Didier  has  fled  with  the  strollers!" 
and  Laffemas  rubbed  his  hands  in  glee. 

"Oh,  be  blistered  my  lips  for  letting  out  that 
much!" 

"Not  at  all!  For  you  will  bless  it  as  I  do! 
I  could  kiss  them  for  it!  Mark,  this  Didier  did 
not  become  a  solitary  fugitive.  He  had  a  Loui- 
sette with  him,  the  one  who  procured  him  the 
release." 

"Oh,  the  royal  release!  It  is  influence,  not 
•mercy,  which  obtains  such  things?" 

"Pretty  simpleton,  yes!  much  influence! 
Such  as  is  wielded  by  a  court  beauty!  by  the 
court  beauty!" 

"Mademoiselle  Marion  Delorme!"  cried  Loui- 
sette. 

"You  have  said  it!  Now,  your  Didier  is  an 
ordinary,  black-and-sour-visaged  youth,  whom 
no  one  would  remark  in  a  crowd,  even  at  Blois! 


302     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

but  to  flee  with  a  Marion  is  to  leap  into  the 
river  with  a  millstone  round  the  neck  for  a 
buoy!  he  is  lost!  your  Didier,  my  Didier,  the 
headsman's  Didier,  will  swing  from  those  bat- 
tlements, in  three  days,  or  my  name  is  not  Laf- 
femas!" 

The  poor  girl  trembled  in  every  limb.  She 
fell  on  her  knees  and  muttered: 

"The  Cardinal's  Executioner!  there  is  no 
hope!" 

"Plenty  of  hope  for  revenge!"  hissed  the 
judge  in  her  ear. 

"Revenge?   on  whom?" 

"Did  you  not  hear  that  Didier  has  fled,  not 
alone,  but  with  the  beautiful  Marion  Delorme!" 

"I  do  not  hate  him  for  that,  or  wonder!  she 
is  truly  beautiful!" 

"But  she  has  run  away  with  your  gallant, 
little  idiot!" 

"Then  he  did  not  love  me!  all  is  over.  Leave 
me  to  die!" 

"But  I  want  you  to  accompany  me  to  identify 
this  Didier!" 

"So  that  you  may  bring  him  to  the  scaffold? 
never!  If  you  drag  me  with  you,  I  will  bite  my 
tongue  in  twain  rather  than  speak  as  you  dic- 
tate! leave  me,  or  I  will  curse  you!" 

"Obstinate  woman!  but  a  few  days'  reflec- 
tion will  bring  you  to  your  senses.  Cheret,  stay 
with  her  and  have  her  locked  up  if  she  tries  to 
quit  the  town." 

He  summoned  his  arquebusiers  to  the  num- 
ber of  ten,  the  best  mounted,  and  rode  over  the 
bridge  on  the  track  of  the  strolling  players. 

"Put  me  in  the  prison,  where  the  fever 
rages!"  said  Louisette  wildly  as  the  secretary 
touched  her  arm  for  her  to  rise  from  her  knees. 

"Singular  desire  on  the  part  of  a  young  wo- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  303 

man!"  said  a   voice,  methodical    and    frigid, 
which  made  Cheret  start. 

"Oh,  it  is  our  faithful  Cheret,"  railingly  wont 
on  this  speaker.    "Who  is  the  woman?" 

"Father  Joseph,  please!  it  is  a  j^irl  of  the 
people  whom  I  found  in  a  swoon!" 

"Father!"  repeated  the  girl,  who  had  the 
faith  of  her  class,  at  the  period,  in  the  wan- 
dering monks  as  peculiarly  the  friends  of  the 
poor  and  oppressed.  "What  this  man  says  is 
false!  this  gentleman,"  proceeded  she,  recov- 
ering the  glibness  of  speech  of  a  Parisian,  "is 
the  assistant  of  M.  Laffemas,  the  great  Cardi- 
nal's Executioner,  as  we  say  in  Paris!"  she 
added,  seeing  that  the  Capuchin  slightly 
frowned  disapproval  of  her  denunciation.  "I 
am  not  of  the  people!  but  come  of  the  petite 
bourgeoisie,  the  petty  tradesfolk!  my  father 
was  well-known  in  the  St.  Denis  quarter,  for 
he  kept  the  draper's  shop,  at  the  sign  of  the 
Golchian  Ram,  three  doors  only  from  the  Gate. 
This  gentle — I  should  say,  villain,  is  going  to 
lead  me  into  prison,  look  you,  good  father! 
merely  because  I  will  not  swear  away  the  life 
of  a  young  gentleman  of  this  town — an  old  citi- 
zen though  young — everybody  here  knowTs  Mas- 
ter Didier!" 

Cheret  had  tried  to  stop  her  but  her  tongue 
was  uncontrollable.  Then  he  looked  round  at 
Joseph  in  despair;  he  was  wearing  the  Domini- 
can garb  and  the  secretarjT  at  once  recognised 
how  right  he  had  been  to  surmise  that  under 
bis  often-used  name  of  Le-Clerc,  he  had  played 
some  part  in  the  recent  events  disturbing  Blois. 

"This  Didier  is  the  slayer  of  the  Marquis  de 
Savcrny,"  began  he. 

"In  whose  service  are  vou?"' 

"In  M.  Laffemas'—" 


304     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"You  are  paid  by  the  Cardinal-Minister.  You 
are  in  his  service,  therefore.  I  discharge  you, 
on  the  spot.  Go  straight  to  Paris  and  be  paid 
your  arrears.  Straight!  do  not  dare  go  in  to 
the  Castle." 

"But  my  papers?" 

"You  were  engaged  to  give  your  whole  time 
to  the  Minister.  You  can  have  no  private  pa- 
pers on  a  journey!  Go!" 

Cheret  bowed  to  hide  his  malevolent  face 
and,  backing  while  he  bowed,  left  the  priest 
with  the  maid. 

Thoroughly  confident  that  he  would  be 
obeyed  without  reserve,  as  manifestly  without 
questioning,  Joseph  did  not  do  the  secretary 
the  honor  of  a  glance  to  see  whither  he  went, 
but  directed  his  eyes  on  the  waiting-maid. 

"Who  are  you?"  said  he.  "If  vou  come  from 
town,  how  do  you  know  this  voung  'old  citizen' 
of  Blois?" 

Louisette  was  convinced  from  the  abject  sub- 
mission of  Cheret  that  she  was  talking  with  a 
great  dignitary  although  he  might  be  assumed 
to  be  a  poor  friar. 

She  related,  not  without  her  smile  coming 
again,  how  she  had  sallied  out  to  bring  in  Ma- 
largue,  but  failing  him,  had  contented  herself 
with  Didier  to  be  their  demon  of  the  sooth- 
sayer's jugglery. 

"The  day  he  fought  with  Malargue!"  ex- 
claimed the  monk. 

"Duel!    did  he  fight  with  Malargue,  then?" 

Joseph  did  not  reply;   he  was  musing. 

"You  were  maid  to  that  celebrated  fortune- 
teller, then?  you  and  she  quitted  your  house 
when  the  police  were  making  inquiries  about 
you  all.    Where  is  she?" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  305 

"Master,"  said  Louisette  weighing  her  words, 
"she  is  a  woman  with  a  double  face." 

"Nol  unusual.    Go  on!" 

"I  believe  she  was  not  so  young  as  she  ap- 
peared. It  seems  to  me,  on  thinking  it  over, 
that  she  wore  a  mask  of  wax,  oh!  so  like  life! 
and  that  she  was  really  old — very  old,  for  her 
hands  were  badly  wrinkled!" 

"Hood!  she  needed  the  years  of  the  Sybils 
to  read  the  lives  of  her  patrons  as  it  is  sure  she 
did!" 

uOh,  she  was  marvellous!"  said  the  girl,  dis- 
mayed. "May  I  say,  father,  without  injuring 
mvself,  that  I  think  I  have  seen  her  since  her 
flight—" 

"My  child,  she  was  a  creature  of  evil.  Conse- 
quently, you  are  not  betraying  in  revealing 
what  may  benefit  justice.  I  will  see  that  you 
are  protected  from  her  physically,  and  as  for 
her  leading  Spirit  the  Devil,  I  will  undertake  to 
absolve  vou  so  that  vou  may  defv  them  both." 

Thus  encouraged,  Louisette,  drawing  a  long 
breath  and  glancing  at  the  Castle,  said: 

"Father,  while  I  was  following  the  bier  of 
poor  Matamore,  I  happened  to  look  back.  The 
judge,  whose  writer  you  dismissed — " 

"Laffemas?" 

"The  same!  he  arrived  with  much  show  and 
pother!  I  could  think  it  was  Prince  Gaston 
coming  into  Blois!  It  seemed  to  me,  but  I  was 
at  a  distance,  that  he  was  accompanied  into 
the  Castle  bv  an  old  woman,  who  had  all  the 
carriage,  you  understand,  of  my  late  mistress." 

Joseph  put  his  closed  fist  to  his  mouth  and 
gnawed  it,  as  was  his  habit  from  school-days, 
when  deeply  pondering. 

"That  I  can  readily  verify,"  returned  he 
abruptly. 


306  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Little,  but,  perhaps,  something  to  you,  my 
Lord!"  she  gave  the  title  at  a  venture,  certain 
that  she  was  dealing  with  a  high  official  of  the 
realm,  "perhaps  much!  Once,  that  man,  the 
judge,  though  dressed  as  a  cavalier — which  he 
did  not  look — and  that  made  me  notice  him !  he 
called  at  my  mistress's — " 

"The  fortune-teller's?" 

"La  Signora  Floretia's,  yes.  But  not  to  have 
his  fortune  told!  They  were  very  cautious! 
ordered  me  out  of  the  room,  but — " 

"You  listened?" 

"Well,  I  caught  only  a  word  or  two  of  their 
salutation  when  alone — It  seemed  to  me  that 
she  hailed  him  with  pride  as  'Son — '  " 

"Good!" 

"And  that  he,  sulkily,  called  her  'Mother,' 
She  used  a  different  voice  when  speaking  with 
him  to  that  she  used  for  the  company  and  to 
me,  do  you  see,  and  that  same  I  called  to  mind 
when  I  heard  this  old  woman  accost  the  judge. 
It  is  devil  and  dam,"  said  Louisette  spitefully 
as  a  finish  to  her  betrayal. 

"Stay  in  the  town,"  said  Joseph  quickly. 
"Here  is  a  gold-piece  for  your  entertainment. 
When  lodged,  leave  your  address  at  the  guard- 
room there,  at  the  Castle  Gates,  for  'Father 
Le-Clerc' " 

He  relapsed  into  meditation,  not  looking  up, 
and  Louisette  departed  quietly. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  307 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

TI1E  FURY  OF  A  THWARTED  JUDGE. 

After  a  few  minutes,  the  Dominican-Capu- 
chin proceeded  to  the  Castle  where  he  was  more 
deferentially  received  every  time  he  came  in. 

He  went  straight  to  the  rooms  assigned  to  the 
.Master  of  Requests. 

The  Arquebusier  Sergeant  was  at  the  door, 
believing  it  a  post  of  trust  and  taking  little 
rest. 

"The  judge  has  gone,  your  Eminence,"  said 
the  soldier,  not  to  be  deceived  about  the  "Other 
Cardinal's"  identity  by  a  change  of  frock. 

"I  know  it.  I  come  to  see  the  person  he  left 
in  charge  of  his  room." 

"Your  pardon,  Eminence,  but  the  passage  is 
forbidden." 

"To  me — to  the  Minister's  agent?" 

"To  all,  reverence!"  said  the  arquebusier  re- 
spectfully but  with  little  yielding  in  his  tone. 

He  was  one  of  those  who  were  impressed 
with  the  legend,  long  disseminated  by  Laffe- 
mas,  that  he  was  the  nearest  in  blood  to  the 
Prime  Minister.  The  rapid  promotion  of  the 
judge  was  of  a  nature  to  make  this  impression 
indelible  if  not  altogether  unalterable. 

"I  want  to  enter  there." 

The  arquebusier  barred  the  door  with  his 
sword. 

"I  see  that  you  require  a  reminder  of  your 
vow  of  service.  Y'ou  swore,  if  I  recall  the 
words  to  a  Idler,  to  let  no  obstacle  or  order 
stop  one  coming  from  the  Cardinal,  although 


308     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

a  writing  to  the  contrary  in  his  hand  was 
shown.  You  have  not  even  the  writing — not 
of  Judge  Laffemas.1' 

"It  is  true." 

"Now,  you  know  I  am  the  Minister's  private 
secretary,  who  bears  his  seal,  which  you  see! 
Now,  hearken:  I  repeat  his  order,  which  is  that 
of  the  State,  the  King  and  his  Chief  Minister: 
Open  that  door  to  me!" 

Nevertheless,  the  soldier  hesitated:  he  was 
one  of  those  who  detested  the  clergy  without 
being  a  Huguenot,  and  wished  never  to  take 
an  order  except  from  a  swordsman. 

"I  give  you  two  minutes,  which  are  running 
on.  Then  I  will  call  up  the  Castle  soldiers. 
You  will  fulfil  your  secret  and  treasonable 
command,  w7hoever  gave  it,  but  you  will  die 
shattered  by  bullets.  Don't  be  a  fool !  you  are 
not  a  Duke  of  Guise,  and  you  cannot  believe 
fame  will  record  how  you  fell,  defending  you 
know  not  what  woman!" 

The  sergeant  trembled. 

At  that  same  instant,  a  terrible  groan  of  in- 
tense pain,  mental  as  well  as  bodily,  burst  from 
the  room  he  was  Quixotically  guarding. 

"You  see,"  said  Joseph,  sternly,  "you  will 
open  the  door  too  late,  after  all!" 

The  soldier  opened  the  door. 

"I  was  doing  my  duty!"  he  muttered.  "Pest 
on  this  hydra-headed  Crown!" 

The  monk  rushed  past  him,  but  recoiled  on 
the  threshold. 

"Villain!"  he  cried.  "You  kept  the  door  for 
the  assassin  to  have  time  to  escape!" 

"Assassin!"  repeated  the  other,  advancing 
after  him  within. 

It  was  his  turn  to  recoil.  Writhing  on  the 
floor,  sprinkling  it  with  blood  from  her  froth- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  309 

iflg  mouth,  the  old  woman  was  soon.  In  ono 
baud  was  the  table  cover,  which  she  bad  seized 
in  her  agony,  trying  to  gag  herself  to  repress 

the  effort  of  nature  to  seek  relief  by  an  outcry. 

"Haste  for  a  doctor!  Save  her  and  I  will  not 
accuse  you!"  said  the  Capuchin. 

The  soldier  retreated  and  reached  the  head  of 
the  stairs  at  a  bound.  In  a  voice  hoarse  with 
horror  he  shouted : 

"The  doctor!  in  hot  haste!  the  doctor  to  the 
judge's  chambers !" 

Joseph  had  knelt  down  by  the  dying  woman 
and  supported  her  head  on  his  knee,  making  a 
pillow  of  the  folds  of  his  gown.  This  move- 
ment exposed  its  grey  other-side  and  the  blood- 
shot eyes  of  the  sufferer  fixed  themselves  on  it. 

"The  grey  monk!  the  Capuchin!  you  are 
Father  Joseph!" 

"I  am  the  priest  who  seeks  to  smooth  your 
way  into  heaven !"  was  the  reply,  in  a  strange- 
ly soft  voice  for  the  gloomy,  steeled  politician. 

"Do  not  take  my  confession.  Write  down 
what  I  mav  have  time  to  sav." 

He  placed  her  on  the  sofa  and  picked  up  the 
paper  and  sheaf  of  quills  which  she  had  pulled 
off  the  table  with  the  cloth.  The  ink-horn  had 
remained  on  a  corner,  not  even  overturned. 

By  this  time,  Themines  had  arrived.  Joseph 
nailed  him  to  the  doorway  sill  by  an  imperative 
gesture  and  said  to  the  arquebusier,  behind 
him : 

"Close  the  door,  and  let  no  one  enter.  The 
priest  is  receiving  the  confession  of  the  dying!" 

The  door  closed  as  if  to  be  scaled,  as  he  put 
the  pen  in  the  ink.  With  wondrous  fortitude 
or  that  false  strength  found  in  extremity  by 
one  filled  with  a  grand  purpose,  the  old  woman 


310     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

rested  herself  on  an  elbow  and  said  in  an  even 
voice,  almost  unnatural: 

"I  am  Dame  Laffemas,  mother  of  JeaD  Laf- 
femas, who  was  father  of  Jean,  alias  Norbert 
Laffemas,  the  judge  and  favorite  of  the  Cardi- 
nal. Fond  of  my  son  and  to  shield  him,  I  con- 
sented to  act  as  receiver  to  a  band  of  deer- 
stealers,  to  which  he  belonged.  Thanks  to  this 
position,  which  allowed  me  to  smuggle  for  the 
nobles,  and  thus  make  powerful  friends  to  save 
me  from  arrest,  I  laid  by  much  money.  Thanks 
to  this  position,  again,  there  came  to  me  one 
night,  my  son,  with  a  young  girl  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, a  daughter  of  the  bourg  of  Richelieu, 
named  Ramire — heathen  name!  My  son  said 
that,  by  orders  of  his  superior,  the  liege  lord, 
I  was  to  proceed  with  her  and  my  son,  to  the 
seaport  and  thence  to  a  far  country. 

"We  went  to  the  French  Indies.  Here  Ra- 
mire gave  birth  to  a  boy,  after  having  worked 
herself  into  a  fever,  through  beseeching  me  to 
help  her  to  escape  that  it  might  have  been  born 
in  France.  But  the  authorities  had  an  eye  up- 
on us  which  we  could  not  elude,  for  I  chafed 
to  quit  the  country  on  my  own  accord,  also. 

"At  this  same  time,  news  arrived  for  my  son 
from  France  that  his  wife,  a  woman  of  the 
bourg  whom  he  had  been  forced  to  marry,  was 
in  a  delicate  situation.  Fired  with  jealousy,  al- 
though he  did  not  love  her,  you  understand — 
he  vowed  that  he  would  make  his  way  over  the 
sea,  spite  of  all.  He  fled,  was  followed  and  shot 
in  the  jungle. 

"In  the  excitement,  I  fled  and,  more  lucky 
than  he,  reached  the  sea.  With  me  was  the 
child  of  Ramire,  who  had  died  of  a  serpent- 
sting  at  the  first  stage  of  our  flight.  I  took 
ship  as  a  menial,  although  I  had  added  to  my 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  311 

store  by  being  a  sick  nurse  to  the  native  nobles' 
harems,  and,  by  being  one  of  the  crow  and  not 
a  passenger,  evaded  all  inquisitive  officers  at 
ports  where  we  touched,  and  was  landed  at  Rot- 
terdam. There  I  learnt  that  Goodwife  Laffe- 
nias  had  had  a  son  born  to  her., 

'"An  infernal  idea  seized  me.  I  conceived 
this  cast  into  the  future:  by  substituting  the 
boys,  I  might,  at  a  certain  age,  produce  the 
wholly  base-born  offspring  of  Laffemas'  wife 
as  the  son  of  Kamire  and  her  cavalier,  while 
the  other,  the  true  son  of  Viscount  Armand  Du- 
plessis,  since  Cardinal-Duke  de  Richelieu, 
would  rest  in  ignorance  and  sequestered  until 
I  should  otherwise  deal  with  him. 

''I  managed  all  this  without  remark  and  no 
suspicion  followed  me  to  Blois.  I  placed  Ra- 
mire's  child,  where  a  certain  good  woman 
would  eventually  care  for  him.  Thus  I  had 
him  under  my  eyes,  and,  from  time  to  time,  pre- 
tendingtoaid  the  woman  out  of  pure  friendship 
for  her,  I  contributed  from  my  hoard  that  he 
might  be  educated  as  a  gentleman.  Remorse 
perpetually  stung  me,  particularly  as  time  ad- 
vanced and  the  one  known  as  Laffemas,  as  this 
was  'Didier,'  introduced  to  court  as  the  son  of  a 
namesake,  rose  gradually  with  such  certaintv 
that  rumor  soon  accredited  him  with  the  name 
of  Richelieu. 

"Perversion  of  the  heart!  soon  I  began  to 
like  this  youth  who  made  good  use  of  his  secret 
and  his  wits.  I  wondered — I  applauded  the 
baseborn  who  filled  his  posts  well,  committed 
few  errors,  and  almost  bore  out  the  fiction  that 
he  was  fit  to  succeed  his  suppositious  father!" 

She  laughed  with  the  glut  of  craft iuess  until 
choking;  Joseph  offered  her  cordial  out  of  a 
phial. 


312     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

He  was  subject  to  fainting  fits  and  carried 
this  medicine. 

"I  refuse  it.  I  shall  find  the  strength.  But 
let  me  sign  what  I  have  stated." 

She  wrote  a  better  hand  than  one  would  ex- 
pect from  a  peasant. 

"You  were  right  not  to  offer  me  that  wine/' 
said  she  with  odd  merriment.  "Either  that  or 
the  pasty  is  poisoned — my  son;  as  I  call  him — 
he  has  killed  me!  But  I  will  be  even  with  him 
and  punish  in  him  his  faithless  mother  who  de- 
ceived my  own  poor  exiled  son!" 

Resuming  her  story  without  excitement,  she 
pursued: 

"They  grew  up;  the  disinherited  one  miser- 
able with  comparative  poverty;  the  other,  the 
usurper,  glorious  with  power  and  wealth.  This 
wealth,  of  which  he  was  liberal  to  me  alone, 
chained  me  to  him.  Having  command  over  the 
police  archives,  he  searched  all  that  related  to 
the  affair  of  Ramire's  disappearance  from 
Richelieu.  But  he  did  not  discover  all.  He 
thinks  still  that  he  is  a  legitimate  son  of  Made- 
line Cloche,  afterwards  Laffemas. 

"Time  drawing  on  just  before  he  became 
Master  of  the  Requests  Court  and  with  a  fur- 
ther promise  of  the  Proctor-generalship,  he  be- 
came fearful  of  me.  Not  that  I  would  betray 
him  knowingly,  but  old  age  might  make  me 
talkative.  He  called  me  to  Paris,  installed  me 
as  a  fortune-teller  and  by  supplying  me  with 
secrets  of  the  ruling  families,  helped  me  to 
make  an  impression  on  the  credulous  which  has 
not  faded  yet?" 

Joseph  nodded  slightly,  not  wishful  to  grati- 
fy the  vanity  of  his  heartless  harpy. 

"Laffemas  had  fallen  in  love  with  the  reign- 
ing court  beauty." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  313 

"Laffemas  in  love  with  Marion  Delorme!"  ex- 
claimed Joseph,  moved  from  bis  rigidity  by  I  his 
unexpected  statement. 

"He  loves  her  and  was  afraid  to  say  a  word. 
He  would  be  a  laughing-stock  since  she  was  be- 
sieged by  all  the  lords  and  beaux.  Then  again, 
Marion  kept  open  bouse  for  all  tbe  plotters  so 
that  no  one  could  say  she  was  hostess  solely  for 
any  party.  Laffemas,  rising  by  the  Cardinal's 
favor,  purely,  dared  not  risk  the  suspicion  of  his 
coquetting  with  any  of  his  enemies.  He  never 
called  on  her.  He  was  dying  to  make  her  re- 
gard him  warmly  and  thought  to  use  my  necro- 
mancy as  his  aid. 

"Marion  came  to  my  house,  as  all  the  fine  la- 
dies did.  Here  is  where  the  hand  of  chance 
comes  in.  Laffemas  was  detained  and  did  not 
come  that  day.    But  by  a  chance — " 

"Sav,  Heaven!"  interposed  the  monk  solemn- 

iy. 

"Hasard  or  heaven !  Didier,  tired  of  leading  a 
snail's  life  here,  was  in  Paris,  seeing  the  lions! 
my  maid  went  out  to  seek  a  certain  accomplice 
who  aided  us  in  our  jugglery,  and  she  accosted 
the  young  man.  He  saw  Marion  face  to  face! 
They  loved!  do  you  hear?  they  loved! 

"A  minute  before,  had  Laffemas  come,  he 
might  have  laid  riches  at  her  feet,  a  title,  all 
that  he  relies  on  wringing  or  coaxing  from  his 
indulgent  father,"  sneered  the  old  woman;  "as 
it  was,  he  had  lost  her  forever!  all  because  he 
was  taxing  some  applicant  for  a  post — for  a 
paltry  thousand  livres,  he  lost  that  treasure, 
Marion  the  flawless  gem!  That  is  the  beginning 
of  his  punishment!  Now,  for  murdering  me, 
whom  he  believes  to  be  his  grandam,  visit 
him  with  more  blows  of  adverse  fate!" 

"You  have  done  enough  for  justice,"  said  the 


314     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Capuchin  gravely,  though  thrilling  at  the  heart, 
"now,  think  only  of  heavenly  mercy !  You  must 
forgive  the  trespasses  of  others,  if  you  trust  to 
have  yours  forgiven!  Forgive  that  false  wife 
of  your  son!  your  murderer,  likewise,  and  all 
who  have  wronged  you !  As  for  Didier,  who  is 
enormously  your  creditor,  I  undertake  to  ob- 
tain his  forgiveness!" 

"You  will  reach  him  too  late!"  suddenly 
shrieked  the  woman,  her  nerves  strained  by  a 
pang  of  intense  anguish.  "Laffenias  is  on  the 
road  to  hunt  him!  By  his  death,  he  will  less 
fear  discovery,  joined  to  mine!  Haste!  for  he 
may  be  killed  with  impunity  in  their  arresting 
him,  as  under  the  Edict!" 

"I  go!  but  one  word:  how  were  you  pois- 
oned?" 

#The  pasty!  cut  with  a  knife  poisoned  on 
one  side  of  the  blade — I  am  sure  of  that,  for  he 
partook  of  both  wine  and  pie!  Revenge  me! 
save  that  young  gentleman!  save  the  son  of 
Richelieu!" 

Joseph  sprang  nearer,  but  with  an  out- 
rageous spasm  which  must  have  twisted  and 
snapped  her  heart  fibres,  she  rolled  over  out  of 
his  grasping  hands  and  died  between  the  divan 
and  the  wall  tapestry  which  she  clutched,  bit 
and  tore. 

The  Capuchin  straightened  himself  up,  hor- 
rified. 

"Never  have  I  seen  a  more  ghastly  death!" 
muttered  he. 

He  retreated  to  the  midst  of  the  room,  where 
he  reflected. 

"What  kind  of  poison?  perhaps  there  will  be 
time  to  have  the  body  examined.  These  old 
hags  are  mere  skin  over  an  osseous  frame.  Let 
us  try." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  315 

He  opened  the  door.    On  his  brow  empearled 

a   cold  sweat   and  his  usually    calm    features 
seemed  convulsed  as  the  moribund's  had  been. 

The  sergeant  shrank  back,  appalled. 

"Retain  your  guard.  Wait  to  be  relieved  till 
I  return.  Go  not  within  there — peep  not!  or 
you  will  be  blasted,  like  them  of  old  who  looked 
upon  the  Gorgones!" 

In  fifteen  minutes  he  had  returned,  flanked 
by  Captain  Gasse,  who  had  entered  on  his 
duties,  and  the  captain  of  the  escort  of  Red 
Arquebusiers. 

"Post  each  of  you  a  man  at  this  door,"  said 
the  Grey  Eminence  with  authority.  "Another, 
under  the  window,  of  each  corps.  Let  no  one 
enter  there  but  the  King's  physician,  who  will 
arrive  from  town  in  the  afternoon  to-morrow." 

He  went  away  to  send  a  courier  for  Dr.  Le- 
tellier.  On  his  return  from  the  posting-house, 
he  met  Dr.  Themines  at  the  door  of  the  guard- 
room. He  was  inquiring  about  the  mystery  in 
the  judge's  rooms. 

"A  woman  has  died  of  the  pestilent  fever, 
which,  you  know,  is  raging  in  these  walls,"  said 
the  monk.  "It  is  a  fellow  townswoman  of 
yours,  Dame  Rose,  of  the  little  cottage  by  the 
Grist  Mill  of  the  Augustine  Brothers.  When 
your  colleague  arrives  from  Faris,  examine  and 
report  with  him.  Mark,  Dr.  Themines,"  con- 
tinued Joseph,  with  a  strange  smile,  'it  will 
be  a  reminder  to  serve  you,  to  have  your  name 
appended  to  the  report  next  Dr.  Letellier's." 

"The  royal  physician  my  colleague?"  cried 
Themines,  with  sparkling  eyes. 

"He  will  be  on  the  road  early  in  the  morning. 
Receive  him  well!" 

Themines  followed  the  dread  Capuchin  to  the 
gates.    He  returned,  murmuring: 


316  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"There  is  a  dead  one  in  the  rooms  given  to 
the  judge,  the  same  suite  as  where  Queen  Maria 
de  Medicis  mourned  the  murder  of  the  Marshal 
d'Ancre.    Fatality  is  the  host  of  the  Castle!" 

Then  he  joined  himself  to  the  posted  sentries 
at  that  door,  determined  that  no  other  medical 
practitioner  should  perform  the  autopsy  of  the 
old  dweller  of  Blois,  but  he  and  the  King's. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  317 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
LED  BY  AN  EVIL  STAR. 

Judge  La  ff  em  as  had  gradually  cast  off  the 
insignia  and  legal-lord  trappings  with  which  he 
commenced  his  manhunt,  and,  towards  the 
third  day  of  non-success,  appeared  clad  like  the 
minor  magistracy.  Severe  in  cut,  black  of  hue, 
of  Flemish  broadcloth  of  which  the  quality  be- 
trayed his  high  rank,  his  gold  chain  of  office 
was  the  only  other  thing  by  which  a  chance- 
comer  might  guess  that  he  was  not  dealing 
an  irh  a  petty  bailiff.  Laffemas  did  not  wear  the 
mien  and  he  had  not  the  stature  and  bearing  of 
a  notable  functionary.  This  gold  chain  was 
the  emblem  of  his  Stewardship  of  Champagne, 
one  more  of  Richelieu's  rich  gifts  to  his  spu- 
rious favorite. 

Wearied,  the  cunning  man  wrore  something 
of  the  air  of  a  balked  fox. 

For  this  want  of  dignity,  of  irrepressible 
courage  under  difficulties,  and  testy  tone,  he 
paid  dearly.  The  personal  animosity  his  chal- 
lenges drew  from  all  classes,  added  to  the  dor- 
mant resentment  of  the  numerous  haters  of 
their  legal  oppressors,  returned  to  his  inquiries 
such  a  plentiful  lack  of  gain  that  his  retinue 
were  daunted  and  his  spirit  would  have  been 
quenched  if  he  had  not  two  fateful  and  potent 
reasons  for  coursing  after  Didier.  This  man 
was  the  sole  block  in  a  double  sense  to  his 
future  happiness  as  he  projected  it. 

Gall  was  added  to  a  cup  tolerably  tinctured 
with  rue  and  hyssop  by  finding  in  this  pro- 


318  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

vincial  obscurity  such  a  thunderbolt  as  might 
annihilate  him.  Not  only  was  he,  if  his  grand- 
mother was  to  be  believed — and  that  he  be- 
lieved her  was  shown  by  his  murder  of  her  for 
the  distress  she  caused  him — not  only  was  Did- 
ier,  we  repeat,  the  true  heir  to  the  Cardinal's 
good  graces,  but  he  had  achieved  a  triumph 
which  all  the  fashionable  flutterlings  of  Paris 
were  solicitous  to  claim:  Didier,  by  pure  love, 
since  he  was  a  nonentity  without  fortune  in 
gold,  had  conquered  the  belle  of  the  court  and 
capital. 

Misled  by  boor,  priest  and  gentry,  Laffemas 
was  forced  to  despatch  detachments  right  and 
left  in  the  expectation  of  capturing  his  prey  on 
a  side-path. 

Hence,  he  found  himself  with  a  mere  squad 
of  his  guards,  after  three  days  out  of  Blois, 
with  a  sergeant  who  envied  the  departed  com- 
rades who  could  not  fare  worse,  and  had  not 
the  misfortune  to  be  harried  under  the  sly  eyes 
of  the  Inquisitor. 

The  remnant  grumbled  that  their  horses 
were  foundered  by  the  terribly  bad  roads  and 
the  by-paths  which  false  clues  had  turned  them 
into.  Accustomed  to  luxuries  in  Paris,  they 
roundly  abused  the  constant  bill  of  fare,  com- 
prising over-fat  pork,  skinny  poultry,  skim- 
milk  cheese  and  black,  hard  bread,  to  which 
the  grindstone  had  contributed  grit,  to  the  det- 
riment of  teeth,  already  aching  from  biting  of 
cartridges. 

Still,  such  bands  of  itinerant  players  as  Mon- 
dori's  troupe  would  seek  modest  tracks,  and 
would  be  glad  to  receive  the  shelter  of  barns 
and  hangers,  so  that  the  law  lord,  spite  of  con- 
tinual suspicion,  was  compelled  to  believe  that 
he  was  rightly  directed  from  the  main  road. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  311) 

Hut  whether  the  peasants  spoke  in  scarcely 
comprehensible  dialect  or  the  curate  and  his 
superiors  answered  iu  faultless  speech,  the  re- 
plies amounted  to  the  same:  they  did  not  catch 
up  with  the  mountebanks. 

In  tine,  with  horses  footsore,  and  the  post- 
horse  Laffemas  had  hired  on  the  down-come  of 
his  steed,  also  going  dead-lame,  the  disconso- 
late party  stopped  perforce  at  a  little  hostelry 
undignified  with  a  name,  and  distinguished 
from  the  hovels  solely  by  a  wisp  of  straw  tied 
by  a  grapevine.  In  the  language  of  tokens,  this 
signified  that  they  might  expect  a  straw  bed 
and  wine.  But  the  sign  deceived,  like  those  of 
other  lying  prophets  hitherto  met.  They  were 
offered  accommodation  in  a  garret  so  filthy  that 
the  sergeant  and  his  soldiers  unanimously  de- 
clared that  they  would  sleep  in  the  stable  with 
their  poor  chargers,  and  would  dilute  a  little 
brandy,  prudently  bought  on  the  road,  with 
spring  water  rather  than  taste  the  cider,  its 
odor  alone  so  offended  them. 

Proof  through  hatred,  jealousy  and  general 
spite  to  physical  needs,  Laffemas,  however,  felt 
his  gorge  rise  at  this  misery  after  the  long  jour- 
ney. He  lingered  at  the  door  after  his  follow- 
ers had  bestowed  themselves  in  the  outhouse, 
holding  the  host  by  the  apron-strings. 

"Hark  ye,  fellow,"  said  he  sharply.  "I  am, 
as  you  see,  Intendant  of  a  County!  a  royal  ser- 
vant, and,  as  good  as  that  again,  a  servant  of 
the  Prime  Minister.  I  am  travelling  on  State 
service,  so  it  wants  but  a  wink  of  my  eye  and 
a  pass  of  my  hand,  so,  to  have  you  billet  my 
men  without  a  silver-piece  for  the  dues.  But 
I  shall  deal  liberally  with  you.  Keep  my  men 
hospitably  and  tell  me,  in  the  interim,  where 
in  this  desolate  neighborhood  I  can  find  re- 


320  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

freshnient  at  which  a  galley-slave  would  not 
heave,  and  a  bed  on  which  a  martyr  off  the 
grid,  would  not  declare  he  had  exchanged  for 
the  worse!" 

It  is  a  poor  host,  not  proud  of  his  inn.  The 
Boniface  made  a  grimace,  but  the  golden  chain 
had  its  magic,  and  he  rejoined  with  a  sem- 
blance of  content: 

"Master  Justice — " 

"You  mav  even  sav  Judge — " 

The  landlord  of  the  Straw-truss-and-Vine 
pulled  at  his  forelock  with  his  right  hand  and 
kicked  backward  with  his  left  foot,  which  was 
his  idea  of  a  suitable  salutation  to  the  digni- 
tary. 

"Come  this  way,  sir,  to  the  break  in  the 
road,"  said  he,  plucking  Laffemas  by  the  sleeve 
and  taking  him  to  where  a  tree  had  been  felled 
and  allowed  a  view  over  a  wild  and  unfertile 
country. 

"Ha!  good!  I  see  a  new  house  and  an  old 
castle!  which  is  the  more  likely  to  receive  a 
man  of  my  quality  in  a  suitable  manner?  I 
make  no  secret  that  I  am  a  Cardinalist,  look 
you !" 

He  had  a  view  of  a  moss-grown  and  ivy- 
streaming  dungeon-based  tower,  with  stone 
walls  in  tolerable  state  of  preservation.  This 
was  the  more  strange  as  the  demolition  of 
strongholds  was  one  of  the  cares  of  Laffemas' 
master.  Near  this  antique  survivor  of  the  great 
intestine  wars,  rose  the  red-tiled  peaked  roofs 
and  sharp  pinnacles  of  a  new  brick  mansion, 
with  stone  at  the  corners.  The  trees  and  hedges 
of  magnificent  holly  hid  the  lower  part  of  both 
edifices. 

"The  two  are  one  house,"  said  the  host,  "for 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  321 

your  purpose.    That  donjon  keep  is  the  old,  old 
Castle  of  Nangis — " 

"Nangis,  oh!  yes,  the  old  marquis  was  a 
great  favorite  of  the  late  King  Henry,  and  his 
son  honors  the  old  dotard !"  commented  the 
judge. 

"The  new  house  is  all  but  connected  with  the 
old.  The  Chateau  is  used  to  bring  out  the 
younger  branches.  Under  those  roofs  collect 
for  family  councils — one  of  which  I  believe 
they  are  holding  at  present,  but  the  news 
reaches  us  but  imperfectly,  and  at  lunno  in- 
tervalley,    as  the  parish  priest  says  in  Latin — " 

"At  Ion  go  intervallo"  said  Laffemas,  gra- 
ciously, "I  understand." 

"The  family  council,  I  was  saying,  comprises 
the  families  of  the  four  baronies  on  which  Nan- 
gis is  placed,  as  you  might  say  a  war-horse 
stands  on  four  legs.  There  is  Nangis,  which  is 
bound  in  war  time  to  supply  the  King  with  a 
hundred  spearmen — it  used  to  be  as  many 
knights!  God  rest  the  old  warriors!  Then 
comes  Nesle,  Brichanteau,  Saverny — " 

"Saverny,"  repeated  the  listener  as  if  pricked 
by  a  wasp. 

"To  be  sure,  Saverny!  The  young  lord,  I  hear, 
is  making  a  famous  stir  in  Paris!  a  wild  youth, 
a  'rake-shame,'  as  they  say,  but  we  all  have 
been  merry  in  our  youth,  that  is,  all  of  us  who 
make  old  bones  worth  the  picking;  and  he  will 
mend!" 

"Saverny!  this  is  bad  omen!"  mused  Laffe- 
mas. "I  have  travelled  very  roundabout  and, 
ten  chances  to  one,  the  corpse  will  have  pre- 
ceded me  to  that  door!  But,"  added  he.  bright- 
ening up  with  a  ghoulish  smile,  which  made  the 
host  recede.  "I  shall  arrive  for  the  funeral 
feast.     Is  the  road  safe?"    he    suddenly    de- 


322  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

manded  of  the  inn-keeper,  as  he  turned  round 
at  the  latter's  retreat. 

"My  lord,  we  leave  all  the  doors  on  the  latch 
throughout  the  parish!  Since  my  young  lord 
the  marquis  took  the  cream  of  the  lively  young 
men  to  Paris  as  pages,  footboys  and  what-not, 
we  live  in  peace  like  the  giraffes  and  carob- 
beans  of  Scripture!  If  your  honor  continued 
to  wear  that  gold  chain  openly  instead  of  wise- 
ly drawing  the  cloak  over  it,  he  would  wake 
in  the  morning  as  hale  as  ever  and  not  be  found 
hanging  in  it!  for,  truth  must  be  told,  whoever 
it  shames,  we  hold  law  officers  in  low  esteem!" 

"I  hope,"  said  quickly  the  judge,  turning 
again,  "that  Lord  Guillaume  up  at  the  castle 
does  not  share  that  uncomplimentary  opinion 
with  you  folk?" 

"No,  the  old  lord  is  a  recluse  and  knows  noth- 
ing of  the  villainies  going  on!  he  hates  priests 
only,  I  dare  say,  having  quitted  public  affairs 
since  the  Bishop — that  is,  the  Cardinal  de  Rich- 
elieu— obtained  the  upperhand  and  rules  the 
realm." 

"Well,  I  am  not  in  holy  orders,"  replied  the 
judge,  stepping  forward  briskly  for,  in  spite  of 
the  roads  being  safe,  he  wished  to  be  housed 
before  nightfall. 

The  way  was  clear,  along  a  planted  road 
where  the  new  trees  fought  for  the  mastery 
with  juniper,  furze  and  holly.  He  soon  saw, 
defined  in  the  fading  sunlight,  the  two  edifices, 
old  and  new. 

One  was  imposing  in  its  grey  severity,  the 
other  enticing  with  the  vagaries  of  an  archi- 
tect who  combined  Italian  novelties  with  a  live- 
ly wit  of  his  own;  the  windows  sparkled  in  the 
declining  sunshine  with  all  colors,  the  carvings 
of  stone  and  oak  showed  the  clear-cut  of  new- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  323 

ness,  the  bricks  had  a  warm  tone  cheering  to 
a  wayfarer  who  had  been  starved  three  days. 

"But  the  pest  on  the  mourning!"  muttered 
Laffemas,  pausing  under  the  noble  oaks  of  a 
park  in  the  style  of  Henry  the  Fourth. 

The  huge  gateway  of  the  old  tower  was  hung 
and  garlanded  with  black,  and  an  enormous 
hatchment,  that  is,  a  diamond-shaped  board, 
painted  by  a  town  artist,  was  fastened  up 
against  the  battlements. 

"The  host  was  right,"  said  Laffemas,  study- 
ing the  armorial  devices  on  this  mourning-tab- 
leau, "there  are  the  arms  of  Nesle,  Brichan- 
teau,  Saverny,  and  Nangis  in  the  centre.  The 
news  of  the  marquis  being  done  to  death  has 
certainly  reached  here,  if  not  the  remains  of  the 
scapegrace." 

Before  the  great  gate,  the  iron-grill  thrown 
open  to  facilitate  the  going  and  coming  of  ser- 
vants, wearing  crape  ribbons  and  other  marks 
of  woe,  were  grouped  some  soldiers  of  the  gar- 
rison, for  Nangis  seemed  kept  up  in  war  state. 
These  stood  respectfully  aloof  from  several  gen- 
tlemen, who  saluted,  welcomed,  and  chatted 
with  two  new  arrivals. 

"It  is  Brichanteau,"  muttered  Laffemas,  slow- 
ly drawing  nigh  and  jostled  by  country-people 
carrying  baskets  of  fowls,  eggs,  and  fruit,  no 
doubt  for  the  funeral  banquet  which  the  judge 
had  scented.  "But  who  is  that  he  is  touching 
elbows  with — a  sort  of  Achilles  who  puffs  him- 
self out  as  though  he  were  master  of  the  cere- 
monies? well,  death  brings  us  acquainted  with 
strange  relatives!  I  suppose  this  fiery  captain 
is  some  sprig  of  the  family  tree!" 

The  person  to  whom  M.  Brichanteau  looked 
up  with  an  air  of  deference,  which  was  the  cue 
for  his  relatives  and  the  domestics  to  evince 


324  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  same  regard,  was  a  typical  soldier-of-for- 
tune  of  those  days  when  war  was  a  game  over 
which  thirty  years  was  often  spent. 

He  wore  a  pair  of  black  mustaches  which, 
like  his  long  chin-tuft  or  royale,  had  been  un- 
flecked  by  Time's  silvering  touch.  But  a  dread- 
ful wound  had  lacerated  his  skull  so  as  to  be 
unsightly  and  he  had  donned  a  palpable,  un- 
mistakable wig  of  grey  horsehair,  brought 
down  forward  where  the  gash  had  seamed  his 
forehead  to  meet  a  black  silk  patch  over  his 
left  eye  which  it  concealed. 

He  was  clad  in  the  uniform  of  the  sub-officers 
of  the  Duke  of  Anjou's  regiment,  but  with  a 
foreign-made  gorget  of  damascened  steel,  silver 
and  blue-black,  and  a  morion,  which  might 
have  come  down  from  an  ancestor  of  the  time 
of  Charles  IX.,  shining  in  broad  contrast  to  the 
plumed  hats  and  flat  cloth  caps  of  nobles  and 
servants,  respectively,  hovering  round  him. 

"What  is  he?"  asked  Laffemas,  eagerly,  of  a 
passing  domestic. 

"The  captain?  Captain  Dalgarado?  he  is  the 
majordomo  for  the  obsequies  of  Marquis  de 
Saverny." 

"The  majordomo  pro  tern.?  Hum!  he  looks 
very  common  to  order  this  establishment  about, 
and  have  the  pert  Brichanteau  bow  to  him." 

He  sidled  up  to  the  group  and  admired,  in 
spite  of  himself,  the  martial  figure,  with  that 
terror  of  the  peaceful  citizen  for  a  survivor  of 
siege  assaults  and  charges  on  the  trampled 
field. 

In  an  interval  of  giving  orders  about  the  pro- 
cession of  magnates  when  the  corpse  should  be 
carried  from  the  chapel,  where  it  was  lying  in 
slate,  so  Laffemas  now  learnt,  to  the  family 
vault  on  the  hill  where  a  cypress  marked  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  325 

last  home  of  the  Nangis-Savernys,  the  master 
of  the  ceremonies  happened  to  catch  the  eye 
of  the  stranger,  who  made  bold  to  salute  him. 

"Who  is  this  little  fellow  with  the  parch- 
ment skin  and  in  sable?  The  undertaker's 
man?"  queried  the  captain,  of  Brichanteau,  in 
a  low  voice. 

"I  do  not  know!  But  be  on  your  guard,  my 
dear  Saverny!"  replied  the  other  in  the  same 
tone.  ''He  may  be  a  spy,  of  which  he  has 
the  appearance,  by  my  fay!  If  he  accosts  you, 
speak  him  fairly,  but  in  a  voice  as  little  like 
your  old  one  as  possible!  What  the  deuce! 
Have  the  accent  of  a  veteran  with  your  excel- 
lent disguise!  Your  valet  is  to  be  praised  for 
his  deception!  I  have  seen  actors  accounted 
marvellous  whose  making  up  for  a  character 
did  not  approach  your  assumption." 

Saverny — for  this  "Captain  Dalgarado"  was 
that  worthy  noble,  still  trying  to  evade  the 
royal  Edict — nodded  conceitedly. 

"Let  me  alone!  The  part  fits  me  like  a  sheet 
of  w7ax!  I  am  warmed  up  to  it!  'Sdeath! 
Have  I  not  cheated  my  good  old  uncle,  to  say 
nothing  of  servants  who  knew  me  as  a  boy — 
and  is  this  little  clerk  of  some  rustic  tribunal 
to  see  through  my  disguise?  It  is  a  pleasure 
to  trick  a  spy,  if  spy  he  be!  And  Spy  is  in- 
scribed on  that  low  brow!" 

"Still  be  wary!  This  fellow  is  not  altogether 
new7  to  me?  Ilave  you  ever  seen  him  bete, re?" 
asked  Brichanteau. 

"Am  I  to  bear  in  mind  all  the  shark-faces 
and  fox-noses  of  the  creditors'  clerks  that  have 
darkened  my  ante-chamber?"  returned  the  mas- 
querading marquis  loftily. 

"Be  careful!"  continued  his  friend.       ''His 


326  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

clothes  have  a  town-tailor's  cut!  where  have  I 
seen  him  before?" 

It  is  doing  Laffemas  the  justice  to  state  that, 
convinced  of  the  gentlemen  recognising  him — 
so  prominent  a  personage  was  he,  in  his  own 
estimation — if  he  did  not  adopt  some  precau- 
tion, he  convulsed  his  face  so  that  he  seemed 
afflicted  with  chronic  toothache. 

"He  is  going  to  address  you,  surely,"  were 
Brichanteau's  final  words,  as  a  valet  plucked 
him  by  the  sleeve  and  begged  him  to  come 
to  a  lady,  in  a  litter  between  two  mules,  in  the 
courtyard.  "Draw  him  out,  boy,  and  we  will 
have  him  chased  out  of  the  county  like  a  writ- 
server,  if  he  is  a  spy!  But  in  the  name  of  Cau- 
tion, use  a  hoaDse  voice!  Are  you  not  the  hero 
of  a  hundred  sieges  and  orgies!" 

On  seeing  the  speaker  depart,  and  isolation 
surround  the  mock  captain,  Laffemas,  bowing 
again,  ventured  to  step  up  to  the  latter. 

"What  a  dreadful  calamity!"  said  he  in  a 
piteous  voice,  making  the  feint  to  dry  his  eye 
with  the  flowing  lace  of  his  cuff.  "What  woe 
to  the  house  of  Nangis-Saverny!  I  understand 
that  your  honor  was  present  at  the  affray?" 

The  superb  captain,  as  the  inquirer  still  pre- 
sumed him  to  be,  looked  at  him  up  and  down 
with  the  air  peculiar  to  men  of  the  sword  ad- 
dressed by  men  of  the  courts  of  law,  and  con- 
descended to  reply,  in  the  disguised  voice  which 
Brichanteau  had  recommended. 

"You  are  right,  sir!  I  had  the  honor  to  be 
his  second — a  duty  which  has  its  thorns,  I  sup- 
pose, for,  verily!  What  times  and  modes!  If 
they  hang  a  noble  for  fighting  a  duel,  little 
under  a  life-imprisonment  should  await  the  sec- 
ond in  the  affair  of  honor!" 

Laffemas  bowed  to  hide  confusion. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  327 

"I  am  so  little  expert  in  (he  law,"  said  he, 
hurriedly,  "being  but  a  slew  aid,  that  I  do  not 

know  the  penalties!  But  a  royal  decree!  coun- 
tersigned by  the  Prime  Minister!  It  is  not  to 
be  sneezed  at,  as  honest  folk  say." 

"The  penalty  is  that  the  Marquis  de  Saverny, 
of  old  family  though  he  was — for  the  head  of 
the  house,  Lord  Gruillaume  de  Nangis,  was 
brother-inarms  of  'the  Evergreen  Gallant'  Har- 
ry the  Fourth!  peace  to  his  memory!  'scaped 
death  by  the  hangman — faugh!  By  letting 
himself  be  pierced  by  a  lowly  blade." 

"A  lowly  blade  killed  our  young  marquis?" 
cried  out  the  judge  in  sympathy,  the  more  em- 
phatic as  the  crowd  pressed  around  to  hear 
of  the  homicide  for  the  twentieth  time  from 
the  ocular  witness. 

''He  was  decidedly  killed,"  resumed  the  mock 
captain,  curling  his  chin-tuft  with  sad  reflec- 
tion. "It  was  one  of  the  daintiest,  killingest 
thrusts  in  tierce  which  I  ever  saw  delivered, 
and,  as  the  leavens  hear  me!  I  have  seen 
thrusts  delivered — at  my  body  for  that  matter 
which,  did  the  blades  still  remain  stuck  in  me, 
would  make  me  resemble  the  St.  Sebastian  by 
Del  Piombo  in  the  library  yonder." 

"I — I  thought  I  heard  you  say.it  was  a  thrust 
in  quarte,"  corrected  one  of  the  bystanders, 
wishing  to  show  that  he  was  not  a  brief  so- 
journer at  the  castle. 

"In  tierce,  sir!"  said  the  captain  fiercely,  so 
that  the  interrupter  quailed  and  slunk  behind 
Laffemas.  "And  I  ought  to  be  able  to  define 
sword-thrusts!" 

"Who  is  better  capable?"  said  the  judge  with 
a  winning  smile.  "So,  it  is  matter  of  history, 
henceforth,  the  poor  young  marquis  was 
pierced  by  a  sword-thrust  in  tierce?" 


328  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

''Which  in  the  first  place  cut  through  a  thick 
doublet  of  Spanish  leather,  soft  as  silk  but 
warranted  dagger-proof  by  the  Genoese  who 
sold  it  at  the  sign  of  the  Thumb-bell  and  Bod- 
kin, in  the  Rue  des  Angevins — deuce  fly  away 
with  him!  Then,  the  callous  steel  made  its 
bloody  way  through  the  side,  by  the  lung,  into 
the  liver,  and  oh!  by  my  soul!  what  a  deluge 
of  blood,  as  you  may  guess!  Gentleman,  the 
outlet  was  a  wound  horrible  to  behold!" 

He  covered  his  face  with  his  hand  in  deep 
emotion. 

A  look  of  sympathy  appeared  on  all  coun- 
tenances while  a  groan  hailed  the  speech. 

"Of  course,  he  died  outright?"  said  LafTe- 
mas,  to  break  the  pause. 

"No,  he—" 

"Of  course,  outright!"  interposed  Brichan- 
teau,  who  had  returned  and  now  hastened  to 
support  the  story-teller. 

"He  died,"  proceeded  Saverny,  recovering 
self-command,  "almost  instantly!  It  was  a 
martyrdom  of  bounded  duration!"  and  he 
raised  his  uncovered  eye  solemnly  to  the  sky 
where  the  dark  was  spreading.  "I  saw  spasms 
succeed  delirium — " 

"Ah,  me!"  said  a  woman  in  the  outer  circle 
of  listeners. 

"An  awful  attack  of  tetanus  succeed  the 
spasms — " 

"Misery  of  man!"  cried  out  a  devout  servant, 
crossing  himself. 

"And,"  concluded  the  mock  captain,  "to  the 
opistathonos    came  the   improstathonos!" 

"All  this  to  the  poor  young  lord !  The  saints 
be  good  to  us!"  ejaculated  the  hearers,  and 
even  Laffemas  was  impressed  by  the  doctors' 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  329 

Latin  which    quite  paralleled    his  own    Law 

Lai  in. 

"I  never  heard  the  like,"  said  he. 

A  servant  kindled  two  immense  balls  of 
tarred  hemp  in  cressets  at  the  tower  gateway 
and  the  courtyard  was  thus  lighted.  The 
group,  on  the  point  of  breaking  up,  frightened 
in  the  dusk,  rallied  around  Laffemas  and  the 
mock  captain. 

"I  gather  from  this,"  pursued  the  latter, 
"that  it  is  erroneous  to  affirm  that  the  life- 
stream  must  issue  by  the  jugular  vein.  If  I 
had  my  way  with  the  Lieutenant-Criminal — " 

Laffemas  shuddered  as  the  single  eye  was 
fastened  on  him,  fearful  that  the  speaker  di- 
vined something  of  his  profession. 

"I  would  have  those  learned  men  prosecuted 
who  hold  with  Dr.  Pecquet  that  the  lungs 
exude  blood  at  the  last  gasp,  for  the  exem- 
plification of  which  they  vivisect  dogs." 

"Dead,  our  poor  marquis!"  sighed  Laffemas, 
watching  the  play  of  ruddy  light  on  the  front 
of  the  new  and  the  old  residences.  "To  lose 
all  this  fine  propertv  through  a  prod  of  an  awl, 
like  that!" 

"It  was  a  death-dealing  stroke  from  a  long 
Spanish  sword!"  said  Saverny. 

"I  conclude  that  you  were  a  student  in  sur- 
gery, sir?"  said  the  judge,  with  admiration 
which  the  spectators  shared. 

"All  my  study  of  surgery  was  active,  on  the 
battlefield,"  rejoined  the  veteran  modestly. 

"But  you  must  have  profoundly  read  on  the 
subject?"  persisted  the  chief  auditor. 

"Yes,  hem!  In  Aristotle!"  said  Saverny. 
luckily  remembering  that  sage  could  be  cited 
i  S  a  well  of  universal  learning. 

"Any  one  could  tell  that — and  deeply  read, 


330  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

'fore  the  laws!"  cried  Laffemas,  with  entkusi- 
asm. 

Brichanteau  was  again  at  his  friend's  elbow. 
He  nudged  him  to  keep  quiet,  but  in  vain.  The 
audience  urged  him  on.  He  was  that  most  in- 
corrigible of  actors,  one  in  love  with  his  part. 

"In  sooth,"  went  on  he,  while  only  superfi- 
cially regarding  the  stranger  against  whom  he 
was  thus  repeatedly  warned  as  possibly  a  spy, 
"my  heart  is  one  which  is  far  from  devoid  of 
malice!  Nothing  in  the  world  delights  me! 
Gentlemen,  I  do  evil  with  rapture!  I  am  fond 
of  slaughter!" 

The  crowd  receded  a  little  and  Laffemas 
alone  stood  his  ground  so  as  to  confront  this 
terrible  slayer  of  men. 

"Hence,  it  was  my  intention,  when  I  should 
enter  on  a  career  at  manhood,  to  become  either 
a  soldier  or  a  doctor!  I  wavered,  like  Buri- 
dan's  ass,  between  the  two  extremes,  which 
are  so  identical  in  their  aims!  Finally,  I  chose 
the  sword  instead  of  the  lancet — it  is  more 
gentlemanly  and  a  little  less  fatal!  Ah,  how 
young  wits  vary — I  remember  oscillating  be- 
tween the  diverse  professions  of  play-actor — " 

"You  would  have  made  a  laudable  Slayer-of- 
Moors — a  Matamore!  incomparable!"  ex- 
claimed Laffemas,  clapping  his  hands. 

"A  poet!" 

"Captain  Fier-a-bras  a  poet?  I  declare  I 
cannot  see  that!"  said  the  judge  while  Brichan- 
teau wrung  his  hands  in  despair  of  checking 
the  courser  in  his  bounds. 

"Yes,  I  wrote — "  but  recalling  his  epigram 
about  shaving  which  came  near  to  being  his 
epitaph,  the  marquis  halted. 

"Actor  and  poet!"  said  Laffemas,  taking  a 
pleasure  in  hounding  on  the  speaker  witli  a 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  331 

faint  hope  that  out  of  the  garrulity  would 
come  something  to  his  advantage — he  knew  not 
what — but  cross  examiners  have  this  impulse 
to  encourage  talkativeness. 

"Or  bear-leader!" 

Spite  of  the  mournful  occasion  which  as- 
sembled the  visitors,  a  roar  of  laughter  hailed 
this  step  toward  the  ridiculous  from  the  sub- 
lime. 

"Bear-leader?  Well,  you  were  companion, 
you  said,  of  his  lordship  the  marquis!"  said 
Laffemas  cynically. 

"But  I  had  a  keen  appetite,  and  to  have 
something  to  eat  morn  and  night,  I  cast  ideas 
of  poesy  and  the  stage  and  training  of  Urso  to 
the  winds!" 

"Come  away,"  whispered  Brichanteau.  "Un- 
der heaven,  I  fear  that  you  have  been  drink- 
ing!" 

"One  moment,"  said  Laffemas,  insinuatively. 
"Where  did  you  derive  this  phantasy  for  rhym- 
ing, you,  a  soldier?" 

"Oh,  in — what  the  mischief  is  his  name? — 
Aristotle!" 

"What  a  charming  companion  you  must  have 
been  for  the  marquis!"  said  the  judge;  "he 
who  dashed  off  witticisms  which  made  the 
court  writhe  with  hilarity  and — the  bench 
issue  warrants  for  his  being  brought  before 
them!" 

"That  pasquin!  I  am  lost!"  muttered  Sa- 
verny,  shivering. 

"Courage!  And  dismiss  this  prying  knave!" 
whispered  Brichanteau. 

"Let  me  first  lull  any  suspicions  I  may  have 
raised,"  said  the  mock  captain  hastily.  Then, 
aloud,  he  observed:  "I,  companion  of  Marquis 
Nazaire?    The  Lord  forbid!     I  was  not  of  his 


332  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

grade;  he  was  a  lieutenant  when  I  was  but  a 
non-commissioned  officer." 

"I  should  have  thought  vou  alwavs  wore  the 
epaulet!"  said  Laffemas  with  inability  to  sup- 
press a  sneer. 

"I  was  in  the  command  of  the  Duke  of  Caus- 
sade  when  the  marquis  took  a  fancy  to  me, 
from  my  skill  at  the  rapier,  and  the  duke,  who 
was  not  tenacious  about  trifles — gave  me  over 
to  him." 

"Egad!  What  a  trumpery  present!"  said 
Brichanteau,  vexed  at  his  counsel  remaining 
unheeded. 

"You  cannot  have  more  of  the  cat  than  her 
skin!"  said  Saverny  drily.  "I  was  promoted  to 
be  officer  for  teaching  the  marquis  and  other 
noble  scions  to  parry  and  thrust.  I  still  have 
a  black  mustache  though  I  lost  my  flowing 
locks  by  a  petard  exploding  prematurely  at 
the  assault  on  the  Red  Half-moon  at  Mons.  I 
am  worth  my  pay,  and  am  willing  to  prove 
with  firearm  or  cold  steel  that  I  am  as  good  a 
man  as  another!     That's  my  tale!" 

"Then  come  away  indoors,  since  you  have 
reached  the  end!"  urged  Brichanteau. 

"Pardon  me,"  persisted  Laffemas,  following 
the  gentlemen  to  the  tower  entrance.  "But 
you  would  be  in  charge  of  the  marquis'  re- 
mains, since  he  was  your  brother-in-arms?" 

"True!  I  had  the  honor  to  escort  the  body 
from  Blois." 

"Did  the  peasant  folk  seek  to  steal  the  bones 
as  a  new  Saint  Nazaire?"  questioned  Laffemas, 
no  longer  able  to  control  his  malice,  on  seeing 
that  some  understanding  of  an  occult  nature 
existed  between  the  disguised  noble  and  his 
friend. 

"No,  sir!       But  the    roads  were    not  safe! 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  333 

There  was  a  rumor  that,  under  pretence  of 
carrying  ou1  of  Blois  the  corpse  of  m,v  la- 
mented patron,  the  CrowD  sought  to  transport 
coin  to  pay  for  the  galleys  building  ai  Nantes. 
So,  as  the  broken  band  of  Malargue  the  Flayer 
was  re-uniting,  I  was  told  off  to  organise  a 
counter-troop.  I  mustered  in  a  score  of  d<s 
peradoes,  and.  faith!  we  have  deposited  the 
marquis  safe  and  sound — that  is,  intact,  in  the 
chapel  yonder:" 

"Now,  sir!"  said  Brichanteau  with  fretful- 
ness,  "you  have  the  poor  body  at  rest!  Pray 
thee:  good  night!" 

But  the  indomitable  judge  once  again  caught 
the  marquis  by  the  sleeve  in  the  very  door- 
way and  said,  in  silky  tones: 

"No  more  of  the  marquis,  then,  since  that  is 
your  good  pleasure!     But — " 

"It  is  a  spy!  He  will  never  have  done!" 
whispered  Brichanteau.  "Shall  I  have  him 
cudgelled  or  ducked  in  the  wTatering-trough?" 

"Your  last  question,  friend?"  said  the  mar- 
quis imperatively. 

"How  does  the  respected  master  of  the  castle 
take  the  loss  of  his  adored  nephew7?" 

"Quietly,  sir!  Ominously  quietly,"  inter- 
rupted Brichanteau. 

"Eh,  sir!  quietly?  And  yet,  it  is  known,  that 
he  loved  him  as  a  man  of  age  loves  life  when 
he  is  without  children!  I  have  heard  that  he 
had  but  the  single  hope — to  see  Marquis  Na- 
zaire  rule  here,  married — giving  him  a  little 
nephew  to  lead  him  under  those  old  trees  to 
yonder  warm  seat  by  the  sun  dial !" 

Saverny,  at  last  willing  to  escape  this  im- 
portunate questioner,  rapidly  plunged  into  the 
interior. 

"You  have  heard  aright,  sir,"  said  Brichan- 


334     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

teau,  barring  the  way.  "He  loved  poor  Na- 
zaire!  With  a  warm  heart,  though  the  snow 
has  chilled  his  head!     Good  night!" 

"Stay!"  cried  Laffemas.  "In  order  that  I 
should  verify  your  kind  wish  of  a  good  night, 
let  me  beg  your  majordomo  to  accord  me  a 
room  with  a  bed — " 

"Eh?" 

"I  am  tired — I  have  come  from — from — 
Tours  to  see  the  funeral  and  the  inns  will  be 
thronged!" 

"Under  what  quality  do  you  require  hospi- 
tality beneath  this  sorrowful  roof?"  said  the 
other. 

"If  he  has  recognised  me,  I  am  lost,"  thought 
Laffemas.  "But,  no!  I  am  a  good  actor,  and 
he  is  deluded!  My  back  is  in  danger,  but, 
nothing  venture!  My  lord,"  replied  he,  in  a 
steady  voice,  "I  am  steward  of  a  lady  who  was 
deeply  enamored  of  the  late  marquis.  Hear- 
ing of  the  untimely  death,  I  thought — nay,  I 
know  that  she  will  be  consoled  if  I  am  able 
to  report  in  what  comforting  way  his  funeral 
was  conducted !  Let  me  tarry  and  see  the  cere- 
mony!" 

Brichanteau  made  a  wry  face.  But  it  is  al- 
ways well  to  have  a  spy  under  the  hand. 

"Tobie — Andre!"  he  called  out  to  passing 
servants.     "A  guestroom  for  this  M. — M. — " 

"M.  Xorbert,  steward — this  goes  no  farther, 
my  lord!     to  Mademoiselle  Marion  Delorme!" 

"Oh,  you  are  steward  to  Mar — " 

"Hush!"  and  he  laid  his  finger  on  his  lips. 
"No  scandal  in  presence  of  the  dead  still  above 
ground!" 

"You  are  right!  To  the  room  with  Master 
Steward!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  335 

/ 
The  gentleman  turned  his  hack  on  Laffemas, 
who  followed  the  valet,  muttering: 

"I  am  inside  the  fort !  Now,  what  is  the  mys- 
tery which  makes  the  dainty  Brichanteau  pair 
off  with  an  old  camp-follower  like  that!" 


336  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  STROLLERS. 

Didier's  short  visit  to  Paris  was  but  an  epi- 
sode classed  with  his  other  casual  glimpses  of 
town  life  in  his  travels. 

Hence,  he  was  flung  into  a  new  world,  only 
a  stage  less  insupportable  than  the  stay  in 
prison,  by  his  entrance  into  the  circle  of  stroll- 
ing players. 

These  gentry  to  him  were  all  the  Law  and 
the  Church  designated  them:  vagabonds. 

Broken  gentlemen  and  unfrocked  priests  en- 
tered the  army,  in  preference  to  going  upon 
the  stage. 

Amusing,  clever,  intelligent  to  the  last  stage 
of  finished  sharpness,  regarding  the  outer 
world  as  their  prey  for  its  dullness,  the  ac- 
tors entertained  Didier  for  but  a  brief  time 
with  their  novelty. 

Perhaps,  had  he  been  alone,  condemned  to 
their  society,  philosophy  would  have  come  to 
his  aid  and  enabled  him  to  support  his  changed 
existence. 

But  with  Marion  by  his  side,  among  the  rogu- 
ish sons  of  Thespis,  every  moment  was  a  tor- 
ment. It  galled  him  that  a  mountebank  should 
address  her  on  a  footing  of  equality — it  seemed 
to  him  that  the  whiff  from  their  sordid  frip- 
pery sullied  her.  So  with  the  Spanish  costume 
in  which  they  had  garbed  her — who  might  not 
have  worn  it  before  her?  Some  drab  who  had 
been  whipped  at  the  carfs-tail  and  sent  to  be 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  337 

drowned  in  the  well  of  a  Rasp-house!     II  was 
iint  the  1(  ;ist  of  the  woes  which  had  thronged 

upon  him  since  he  had  first  crossed  swords  with 
Malargue,   who  decidedly    was  his  bag  of   mi 
luckiness,  thai  .Marion  should  be  mingled  with 
these  ballad-mongers. 

Mondori  in  particular  kept  his  ire  ablaze, 
with  his  familiar  paternal  address,  the  same 
he  used  to  all  the  company.  They  hailed  him 
as  "father,"  and  he  assumed  all  the  airs  of  the 
general  paternity.  But  he  was  so  good-hum- 
ored, so  irresistibly  merry,  so  full  of  devices 
which  cheated  inn-keepers,  stupid  burgomas- 
ters and  blundering  horse-patrols,  that  one  had 
to  forgive  his  manners. 

But  Marion  soon  taught  herself  patience  for 
•the  sake  of  love,  and  bore  with  charming  meek- 
ness the  descent  in  her  station. 

"Let  us  bear  with  them,"  said  she;  "remem- 
ber, our  lives  are  at  stake.  In  this  company 
we  may  get  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  confines 
of  the  kingdom  and,  once  we  cross  the  border 
or  the  seas,  we  may  be  safe." 

Didier  smiled  again. 

"Yes,  I  have  travelled — how  fortunate  that 
same  roving  now!  I  have  a  smattering  of 
tongues,  so  that  we  shall  not  be  plundered  in 
England,  Italy  or  Germany — wherever  we 
chance  to  be  wafted  by  this  fitful  wind.'' 

The  manager  of  the  band  had  his  orders,  one 
would  think,  for  he  did  not  stop  to  give  repre- 
sentations at  any  of  the  night-halts.  He 
pressed  on  with  a  haste  and  persistency  which 
amazed  the  actors,  never  having  seen  so  much 
energy  and  neglect  of  picking  up  the  gold 
pieces  on  the  part  of  the  indolent,  happy-go 
lucky  Italian. 

It  was  due  to  this  rapid  march  without  any 


338  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

performances  to  delay  them,  that  Laffeinas  was 
baffled. 

On  being  asked  why  he  neglected  his  busi- 
ness, the  manager  winked  slightly,  clapped  his 
fat  hands  together  in  mock  reverence  and  said : 

"Thanks  to  St.  Francis,  we  have  no  need 
to  act  for  ducat,  sequin,  genevan  or  Ruyter! 
Not  for  a  month!  In  the  meantime,  live  at 
ease!  and  guard  that  couple  of  new  comrades, 
as  our  what-do-vou-call-it  that  fell  from  the 
sky  in  'the  Taking  of  Troy?'  Ah,  the  Palla- 
dium! That  man  and  that  woman,  they  are 
our  dual  palladium,  and  while  they  endanger 
us — perhaps,  why,  they  also  plump  out  our  poor 
cashbox!" 

"St.  Francis!  What  new  patron  saint  has 
the  padrone?"  inquired  the  thin,  lathy,  wasp- 
like Florentine  who  personated  Scaramouche. 

"Do  you  not  recall  the  Capuchin  who  earn- 
estly conferred  with  the  manager  at  Blois,  be- 
fore we  received  this  substitute  for  that  poor 
Matamore?  Well,  what  is  a  Capuchin  but  a 
Franciscan?  Depend  on  it,"  said  the  buffoon, 
one  Signor  Le  Gracieux,  "we  owe  this  streak 
of  good  fortune  to  that  friar!" 

"Good  nothing!"  grumbled  the  black-browed, 
burly  gentleman  who  played  the  "Taillebras," 
that  is,  the  Tyrants,  and  who  was  a  confirmed 
misanthrope,  "we  shall  be  fried  in  our  own 
fat  if  we  are  captured  by  the  police  of  the 
capital!  This  woman  is  no  ordinary  fugitive, 
and  that  man  slew  a  noble!" 

From  Didier's  disgust,  which  Marion's  forced 
affability  did  not  wholly  alleviate,  the  stroll- 
ers kept  aloof,  and  when  the  party  at  a  hill 
alighted  from  the  caravans  to  walk  up  and 
ease  the  horses,  lineal  descendants  of  Rosi- 
nante,  the  loving  couple  paced  the  ruts  alone. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  339 

Iii  these  intervals  they  continued  to  exchange 
confidence  od  their  new  life,  the  woman  coun- 
selling the  forbearance  she  showed,  and  Didier 
exhaling  his  impatience  and  loathing. 

"Do  yon  not  think,  Marie?"  said  Didier,  with 
a  bitter  laugh  as,  on  a  hilltop,  they  turned  to 
see  behind  them  the  tawdry  train  ascending, 
putting  their  shoulders  to  the  creaking  wheels, 
carrying  the  wardrobe,  with  Mondori  guarding 
the  mule  on  whose  back  was  strapped  the 
money-box  which  was  not  a  misnomer,  for 
once,  in  their  adventurous  progress,  ''do  you 
not  think  that  I  have  dragged  you  down  suffi- 
ciently low?  But  you  would  follow  me,  wretch 
that  I  am,  unto  the  prison  pit  into  which  you 
descended,  like  the  angel  who  fiewT  down  into 
the  healing  Pool!  My  destiny  is  a  funeral  car 
to  which  your  bright  one  should  never  have 
been  chained — for  it  will  be  crushed  in  the 
abysm  and  you  will  lie  under  its  fragments! 
I  told  you.  in  the  castle  keep,  that  I  was  un- 
lucky! look  on  this  crew  of  scarecrows,  and 
answer  if  I  was  not  right?" 

"Didier,  are  you  reproaching  me  for  wThat  I 
have  done  to  walk  bv  vour  side?" 

She  had  clasped  her  hands  and  trembled  in 
a  plaintive  mood. 

"Never!"  he  cried  out,  reckless  if  he  were 
overheard — lovers  are  often  desirous  of  parad- 
ing their  transports.  "Never  will  a  reproach 
toward  you  issue  from  these  lips,  blessed  by 
contact  with  yours!  I  should  be  accursed  above 
all  mankind,  the  most  deserving  of  outlawry  of 
all  outlaws,  which  we  are  at  the  time  being, 
if  this  heart  were  to  rebuke  you,  when  you 
are  its  sole  saint — its  faith!" 

When,  indeed,  all  was  set  against  him,  as  he 
was  struck  and  thrust  into  ward  and  duress, 


340     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

with  death  the  prospect,  not  even  exile  as  its 
foil  of  hope — she  had  come  as  his  saver. 

"Yes,"  said  he,  turning  his  eyes  toward  her 
from  the  evening  star  as  if  she  were  the  serv- 
ant of  Venus  and  he  was  the  liege  of  both 
goddess  and  her  attendant,  "you  are  my  shelter 
as  you  were  my  only  hope  when  I  languished 
in  despair." 

"I,  saved  you?"  she  faltered. 

"It  is  all  due  to  you,  whoever  the  direct 
agent  of  heaven!  Who  came  down  from  the 
skies  into  my  limbo  but  you?" 

"Would  not  that  priest  be  more  fit  agent  of 
providence?"  said  she,  eager  on  her  part  to 
know  more  of  the  motives  which  made  Father 
Joseph  the  friend  of  the  unknown  Didier  as 
well  as  her  own,  for  the  Cardinal's  right-hand 
man  had  not  hitherto  been  friendly  to  her.  In- 
deed, a  certain  sermon  of  his,  at  St.  Gene- 
vieve's, had  been  cited  to  her  as  pointed  at  no 
other  mark. 

She  had  mocked,  then,  saying:  "Because  his 
Eminence  is  the  Scarlet  Premier,  am  I  to  be 
the  Scarlet  Woman  of  this  era?" 

"Who  tricked  my  jailer?"  he  proceeded. 

"That  Capuchin,"  answered  she.  "I  stand  to 
that!" 

"The  priest  did  his  part — so  did  the  doctor, 
the  warders,  peradventure,  the  governor  of 
the  town  and  fort,  but  at  least  none  of  these 
accompanied  me  in  my  flight!"  said  Didier  with 
lover's  logic.  "Who  is  the  fellow-fugitive  but 
you?" 

"Certainly  I  have  abandoned  all  to  follow 
you,"  she  murmured,  without  a  sigh,  although, 
on  the  western  sky,  suffused  with  the  orange 
sunset,  a  vision  of  her  drawing-room  in  Paris 
suddenly   loomed   up,  and   by  a  trick  of  the 


\ 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  341 

memory  the  chattel-  of  the  players,  mouncing 
tin-  acclivity,  seemed  the  small-talk  of  the  in- 
timates of  her  boudoir. 

"What  other  woman, "  pursued  the  young 
man,  admiringly,  "would  have  had  the  intelli- 
gence, fortitude,  and  unfailing  love  to  console 
me  in  my  bondage,  sustain  me  in  this  hegira  of 
shame  and  pour  on  my  fainting  soul  the  balm 
so  invigorating  of  hope?" 

Through  tears  came  her  pleasant  words:  "It 
is  the  only  happiness  I  have  ever  known,  to 
follow  you  and  love  you!" 

"Wipe  your  eyes  and  look  up — let  me  see 
in  them  what  intoxicates  and  strengthens  me 
for  this  dolorous  pilgrimage!  Before  I  met 
you,  it  seemed  always  to  me  that  I  had  two 
shadows,  my  own  and  a  demon  that,  unlike 
the  other,  accompanied  me  as  w7ell  in  the  dark- 
ness as  in  the  light!  That  shadow  has  not 
left  me — will  it  ever  quit  me?  But  on  the 
other  hand  an  angel  keeps  step  with  me — its 
wings  fan  my  fevered  brow  and  cool  my  heated 
heart!  Be  blessed,  Marie!  For  you  fascinate 
and  concentrate  my  attention — seeing  you,  I 
see  no  more !  Your  eyes  are  two  lakes  in  which 
my  spirit  Moats,  like  the  swan  and  its  mir- 
rored self — in  their  compass  is  all  the  limit  I 
wish  to  disport  in  and  exist!" 

"What  are  they  mouthing  up  there?"  said 
the  comedian  to  the  manager.  ''Did  you  give 
them  a  part?  I  hope  it  is  nothing  that 
trenches  on  my  line?" 

"Loon!"  replied  the  manager.  "Do  you  not 
see  that  they  are  doomed  to  be  tragic!  That 
woman  might  be  a  queen  of  no  painted  throne- 
room  and  that  young  man,  who  pinked  the 
master  of  fence,  Malargue,  has  a  hand  to  flour- 
ish  Excalibur  itself!        Per  Baccho!     If  only 


342  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

they  will  spout  what  is  set  down  for  them 
with  the  fire  they  are  putting  into  their  dia- 
logues between  themselves!  We  shall  be  able 
to  re-open  in  Paris  and  make  our  fortunes! 
Born  Morgana,  that  woman !  and  born  Orlando, 
that  man!" 

"Supposing,"  said  Didier,  seeing  that  they 
were  still  in  advance  of  the  party,  which 
stopped  on  the  hill  brink  to  rest,  "supposing 
that  we  cross  the  frontier  or  the  ocean,  will 
it  be  there,  in  the  far  country,  where  the  King's 
writ  will  not  run,  that  you  contemplate  to 
make  me  your  lord  and  master?  Come,  come, 
whatever  bonds  may  lie  on  you  in  this  jealous 
and  implacable  France,  they  must  be  snapped 
by  the  tension  of  distance." 

Marion  turned  pale.  Was  there  a  land  of 
civilisation  where  her  reputation  had  not  pre- 
ceded her? 

"Be  content,"  said  she  in  a  shaken  voice, 


"can  we  not  remain  brother  and  sister?" 

"Did  I  refuse  liberty  when  you  came  into 
my  cell  and  offered  it  under  odd  conditions 
of  mystery  and  ignominy?  Why  will  you  not 
accept  that  liberty  in  exchange  for  your  own? 
You  would  not  refuse  me  a  drink  from  this 
spring!  Well,  why  refuse  my  thirsty  soul  the 
bliss  of  holding  you  before  heaven  and  man 
as  my  wife?" 

"Alas!  A  wife!"  sighed  Marion. 
"Then,  we  could  wander  all  the  world  over 
in  surety,  and  we  should  not  have  to  resent 
the  whisper  and  the  slur!  Oh,  chaste  and 
high-growing  flower,"  he  exclaimed  in  a  rhap- 
sody which,  without  the  words  being  distin- 
guished, delighted  the  connoisseurs  of  tirades 
in  the  mass  of  strollers  now  coming  up,  "let  me 
be  able  to  show  you  to  the  world,  proud  that 


OR.  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  343 

the  husband  cherishes  the  purity  which  the 
lover  respected!" 

"Be  careful,  Didier,  they  will  overhear  you!" 
she  cried  out. 

"Those  ribalds!''  sneered  the  young  gentle- 
man, without  looking  round.  "Pah!  Do  not 
revive  the  wrath  which  the  sight  of  them  kin- 
dles!" 

"A  ragged  escort,"'  said  Marion,  gravely,  "but 
mark!  they  defend  us!  I  did  not  choose  them 
to  be  your  guard — that  was  the  work  of  a 
wiser  one  than  I.  Think  that,  with  a  squad- 
ron of  dragoons  around  us,  we  should  have 
been  brought  to  a  standstill  at  the  first  garri- 
son town!  But,  with  these  tatterdemalions, 
slipping  by  woodmen's  paths  and  the  goat's 
trails,  skulking  past  cottages  and  under  the 
castled  cliff,  we  pass  unchallenged!  If  the 
gendarmerie  and  the  custom-house  officers  bar 
the  way,  Signor  Mondori  has  his  unctuous 
laugh  and  a  mirthful  word  which  clears  the 
road  like  a  talisman!  Oh,  happy  these  idlers 
who  have  the  'Open  Sesame!'  to  the  robbers' 
caves  of  this  earth!  Who  enjoy  the  mental 
treasures  of  which  the  Forty  Thieves  cannot 
pilfer  them!" 

"In  a  word,"  said  the  man  disdainfully  and 
with  pain,  "yon  envy  them!" 

"They  may  be  imprisoned,  whipped,  branded 
— expelled  from  town  and  burg!"  returned  Mar- 
ion sadly,  "but  at  least  they  will  not  be  sus- 
pended to  the  gibbet!  Remember  the  dead 
Saverny!  remember  the  deadly  Edict,  signed  by 
the  King  and  countersigned  by  the  Red  Cardi- 
nal!" 

Her  cheek  was  blanched;  her  lustrous  eyes 
lost  their  pearly  brilliancy  around  the  black 
pupil. 


344  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"You  are  right,  and  always  right,"  said  Di- 
dier,  changing  his  fervent  tone  and  relaxing 
his  excited  gait  to  allow  the  strollers  to  over- 
take them  with  their  creaking  wagons.  "Let 
mv  evil  destiny  cling  to  me — at  least  you  com- 
bat it  every  moment  with  your  youth,  beauty, 
happiness  and  hopes!  Am  I  to  despair  when 
I  see  that  I  have  been  selected  to  enjoy  these 
boons,  prodigally  lavished  on  me,  though  our 
morose  monarch  would  esteem  them  cheap  at 
the  price  of  Navarre  and  Bourbon!  When  is 
my  fate  to  be  other  than  this  one,  during  which 
I  can  repay  you  with — what?  Folly,  misery, 
death!  Heaven  led  me  to  you  but  Satan 
seems  to  have  forged  this  chain  binding  us!  I 
have  seen  on  the  highway  two  men  linked  by 
steel — one  was  a  malefactor,  the  other  his  cap- 
tor, who  was  afraid  of  losing  him  and  so  con- 
sented to  be  coupled  with  sin!  I,  your  prize 
— whither  do  you  lead  me?" 

"Where  we  shall  be  happy  by-and-bye,  be- 
loved!" interposed  Marion,  lowering  her  tone 
so  that  he  should  imitate  her  prudence. 

"What  good  have  I  ever  done  in  my  useless, 
aimless  life — or  what  evil  can  you  have 
wrought,  that  we  are  equalised  and  I  merit 
you?" 

"All  I  know  is  that  my  happiness  comes  from 
you — the  only  happiness  I  care  to  feel!" 

The  vesper  bell  resounded  from  a  petty 
church  here  and  there  over  the  darkling  vales 
and,  irreverent  as  were  the  strollers  by  prac- 
tice, habit  caused  some  of  them  to  stop  and 
cross  themselves  as  they  murmured  the  even- 
ing prayer. 

Didier  stopped  short  and  took  Marion  by  the 
hand. 

"No  doubt  vou  speak  what  you  think  when 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  345 

you  talk  in  that  strain,"  said  he,  with  a  r<  mm 
of  his  customary  gloominess;  "but  am  I  to 
imagine  thai  the  laics  have  done  dealing  out 
i heir  black  cards  to  me,  and  that  a1  lasl  I 
shall  have  a  heart — diamonds!  instead  of  the 
clubs  of  peasants  and  the  swords  of  their  bet- 
ters? My  star  is  bad!  Its  course  is  most  oft 
amid  the  clouds  which  obscure  and  vomit  con- 
suming lightnings!  [gnorantof  whence  I  came, 
I  Tear  that  whither  1  go  is  more  melancholy! 

"See.  Marie,  the  road  branch's  here!  This 
way.  where  the  troupe  goes,  it  is  arid  and 
bleak!  80  fits  it  the  better  for  me!  Go  you 
thither,  over  the  gentle  undulations  and  those 
fertile  plains!  It  is  time  for  you  to  take  a 
new  direction  or  even  to  turn  back — for  surely 
no  one  will  harm  a  beautiful  woman,  in  this 
age  of  gallantry!" 

'•Indeed!''  she  sneered  with  a  causticity  he 
had  never  remarked  in  her  previously. 

••Let  me  go  on  with  these  coarse  fellows  to 
the  first  point  of  proximity  to  the  border. 
Stay  with  me  and  what  awaits  us  at  my  jour- 
ney's end?  A  couch  so  narrow  that  it  will  not 
suffice  for  two!  And  a  cold  so  intense  that 
it  would  freeze  even  vour  eternal  vouth  and 
whiten  your  glow  of  loveliness.     Begone!" 

"With  you!"  she  replied,  fastening  her  hands 
on  his  arm  as  though  the  ambulatory  actors 
were  coming  to  divide  them. 

"You  must  be  reft  of  sense  to  wish  to  share 
my  burden — my  banishment — my  poverty! 
Are  these  the  hands  to  fell  the  giant  cypress  of 
Louisiana?  The  banian-tree  of  India?  Is  the 
anaconda  to  be  wrestled  with  and  hurled  into 
the  roaring  cataract,  as  one  drops  a  bully  into 
the  placid   Seine?     I  foresee   such  prolonged 


346  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

sorrows    that    even  your    unquenchable    eyes 
would  be  dimmed  by  tears!" 

Marion  shuddered,  so  powerful  was  the  pic- 
ture he  presented,  but  while  she  sobbed,  she 
shook  her  head. 

The  best  mounted  of  the  company  passed; 
the  heavy  wagons  groaned  as  they  surged  in 
the  ruts.  Scaramouche  passed  with  a  smile, 
the  Tyrant,  with  a  frown;  the  women  sighed 
and  looked  covetously  at  the  cloudy  yet  ener- 
getic lover  and  envied  Marion,  though  she 
wept. 

Sometimes,  Love  delights  in  these  veils  of 
tears  over  the  adorable  eyes  of  his  chief  en- 
chantresses. How  many  a  landscape  fails  to 
entrance  until  the  rains  descend  and  out  bursts 
the  cascade  under  its  celestial  bow! 

"Your  fate  combined — nay,  coalesced  with 
mine  appalls  me!     Begone!" 

"You  are  doing  it  finely!"  said  Mondori, 
sponging  his  forehead  with  an  Indian  hand- 
kerchief and  smiling  on  the  pair.  "I  shall  cast 
you  for  'Darius'  Daughter  sueing  to  Alexan- 
der!' by  the  illustrious — illus — really,  I  forget 
the  author,  but  the  piece  is  an  excellent  tra- 
gedy all  the  same!" 

He  gave  them  a  blessing  with  his  fingers,  like 
the  Pontiff  signifying  a  benediction  on  the 
world. 

Unconsciously,  Didier  reflected  the  smile, 
and  instantly  changing  his  tone  he  said,  with 
great  remorse  for  having  caused  the  weeping: 

"Marie,  my  treasure — so  many  tears,  when 
to  buy  the  cessation  of  one,  I  would  lay  down 
my  life!" 

"Didier,  I  would  sooner  you  slew  me  out- 
right than  spoke  in  this  heart-rending  mode!" 
said  she,  rising  from  kneeling  at  his  feet. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  347 

The  strollers  had  passed  on:  the  lovers  were 
alone  in  the  twilight.  But  it  seemed  to  Didier 
that  an  afterglow  lingered  on  the  summit  of 

the  ascent  and  enveloped  Marion.  He  caught 
her  in  his  arms  and  sued  for  forgiveness. 

The  long,  serpentine  boughs  of  the  straggling 
ground-elm  and  beech  curved  down  over  their 
heads  and  shook  the  dew,  like  incense  from  a 
sprinkler,  upon  them. 

"Do  not  depart  from  me,"  he  continued  em- 
bracing her  as  if  she  were  struggling  to  be 
free.  "Stay  with  me  and  be  my  fortune!  Oh, 
may  not  inconstant  fate  abruptly  diverge  from 
the  course  it  has  pursued  toward  me,  these 
twenty  years,  and,  for  your  sake — since  you 
deserve  all  that  this  globe  provides  of  delights 
— shower  favor  upon  me?  Be  my  glory  as  you 
are  my  love — be  my  guiding-star  and  lead  me 
on  to  welfare  and  felicity!  How  bewitching 
you  are!     No,  I  cannot  live  where  you  are  not!" 

A  distant  halloa  and  a  blast  of  the  trumpet 
which,  among  the  players,  represented  indif- 
ferently Roland's  horn,  the  Wild  Huntsman's, 
the  bugle  at  the  gate  of  the  enchanted  castle, 
and  so  on,  resounded  from  another  hill  where 
the  troupe  paused  to  rest  and  await  the  belated 
pair. 

"A  kiss  upon  our  reconciliation — " 

"As  though  we  ever  quarrelled,"  responded 
Marion,  pouting. 

"And  let  us  on!  Briefly,  wTe  may  be  king 
and  queen  over  this  mimic  world  of  the  stage! 
But  at  the  frontier,  we  cast  off  the  borrowed 
wings  and  take  a  flight  into  the  realms  of  hap- 
piness!" 

On  the  mount  Mondori  still  lingered. 

"Good!"  said  he  on  seeing  the  couple.  "You 
made  me  uneasy,  for  1  hear  from  a  faggot- 


348     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

gatherer  that  a  squad  of  musketeers  are  at  an 
inn  over  there;  it  may  be  a  party  in  search  of 
you.  Let  us  hasten.  There,"  continued  he, 
pointing  to  the  castle  tower  and  the  red  roof 
which  had  attracted  Laffemas'  attention  from 
almost  the  same  point  of  view,  "that  fort  which 
mocks  at  the  ordinance  for  such  bullies  of 
stone  to  be  thrown  down,  must  be  a  solid  habi- 
tation wThere  we  can  find  shelter.  If  haply 
some  feast  collects  the  nobility  and  gentry 
there,  then  our  fortune  is  made!  Yes,  I  see 
conveyances  on  the  road,  for  the  lanterns  glit- 
ter like  will-o'-the-wisps — all  converge  to  the 
great  house!  Take  heart,  the  old  fossils  are 
crumbling  away — if  we  meet  with  a  new  lord 
who  has  been  to  Paris  and  wishes  well  to  the 
Arts,  our  fortune,  as  I  said,  is  gilded!" 

And  locking  arms  with  Didier,  to  the  lat- 
ter's  shocked  pride,  and  followed  by  Marion, 
smiling,  the  good-natured  stroller  hurried  them 
on  to  the  Castle  of  Nangis. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  349 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

NO  MAN  IS  A  HERO  TO  HIS  SECRETARY. 

When  the  judge  rose  in  the  morning,  which 
was  at  a  late  hour  for  the  country,  from  his 
town  habits  and  his  fatigue,  the  courtyard  was 
lively  with  company.  The  tidings  had  been 
diffused  of  the  death  of  the  young  marquis 
and,  though  he  had  not  been  seen  in  the  vicin- 
ity for  some  five  years,  the  esteem  in  which 
his  family  was  held  caused  a  vast  concourse 
to  assemble. 

Laffemas,  dressing  himself  still  more  care- 
fully to  appear  to  be  the  domestic  of  a  modest 
household,  and  lining  his  face  with  the  black 
end  of  a  partly  burnt  sulphur  match,  which 
altered  his  features,  descended  among  the 
throng.  He  listened  to  the  conversation  but, 
as  the  most  of  the  gathering  were  gentlemen- 
farmers  and  squires  who  took  the  occasion  to 
grumble  at  the  taxes,  at  the  poor  crops  and 
the  low  price  of  live  stock,  he  learnt  nothing 
to  assist  him  in  his  quest  for  the  troupe  of 
Mondori. 

Politics  were  discussed  but,  as  he  was  a 
stranger,  he  noticed  that  the  chat  flagged 
when  he  approached  a  knot  of  speakers.  At 
the  most  he  gleaned  that  the  King  was  believed 
a  mere  painted  idol  of  the  court  and  that  the 
First  Minister  was  feared  as  much  as  he  was 
disliked.  The  aversion  sprang,  like  that  as- 
cribed to  the  Marquis  of  Nangis,  from  his  being 
in  the  priesthood. 

He  congratulated  himself  on  his  incognito, 


?50  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

while  dreading  it  was  not  perfect  enough  to 
deceive  the  Banneret  of  Brichanteau,  who  mis- 
liked  his  astute  and  ungrateful  countenance 
and  had  circulated  a  word  against  him  which 
he  had  overheard,  accompanied  by  ill-sup- 
pressed laughter. 

"This  little  man  in  black  is  a  raven!  Such 
are  sure  to  be  lured  by  the  dead!" 

He  had  at  the  dawn  again  insisted  on  his 
friend  under  the  mask  being  prudent. 

"What  bird  of  evil  mien  would  cheat 
iEsop!"  said  he,  watching  the  suspicious  judge 
in  all  his  perambulation  of  the  park. 

All  at  once,  as  the  air  became  warm  with 
the  sunshine,  a  hum  of  pleasure  mixed  with  re- 
gretful sympathy  rose  from  all  the  detached 
groups  which  ceased  to  idle  at  the  crossways 
and  formed  hedges  so  that  the  master  of  the 
castle  could  proceed  on  his  walk  unstayed. 

The  old  Marquis  of  Nangis  did  not  seem  to 
see  anyone  as,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  a  valet, 
he  took  his  regular  stroll  in  the  beech  avenue. 
He  was  plunged  in  a  profound  spell  of  grief 
and  meditation.  His  step  was  slow,  his  head 
hung,  and  his  white  hands  trembled.  He  was 
clad  in  black  velvet,  with  lace  cuffs  and  collar 
in  the  pointed  mode  familiar  in  Vandyck's 
pictures. 

Laffemas  went  up  and  down  the  side  paths, 
keeping  pace  with  the  aged  lord,  and  in  turn 
kept  under  supervision  by  Brichanteau,  at 
whose  elbow  trotted  Saverny. 

As  soon  as  the  old  noble  felt  the  necessity 
of  repose,  his  supporter  led  him  to  a  mossy 
bank,  before  one  of  those  tricky  waterworks, 
after  the  Italian  manner,  which,  if  one  sat  in 
the  wrong  place,  would  cause  a  Triton,  who 
in  peace  held  an  empty  conch  to  his  lips,  to 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  351 

spoul  a  mass  of  spray  upon  the  luckless  vie 
tim. 
Fortunately  for  Laffemas,  he  had  not  the  im- 

pudence  to  take  a  scat  beside  the  marquis, 
though  he  ventured  to  walk  up  to  him. 

Bowing  lowly,  he  said  in  a  tone  of  defer- 
ence and  sympathy  at  which  the  hearers  were 
surprised,  so  sincere  did  it  seem: 

"Alas!  my  lord  marquis,  we  have  truly  lost 
the  hope  of  the  great  house!  The  Marquis  of 
Saverny  was  such  a  nephew  as  one  sees  rarely 
in  these  degenerate  days!" 

Nangis  looked  up  and,  for  the  first  time  since 
he  had  heard  of  his  nephew  being  killed  and 
brought  to  the  castle  for  burial,  expressed  an 
interest  in  what  was  spoken  to  him. 

"Ah,"  continued  the  "left-hand  man"  of  Rich- 
elieu with  the  same  faultless  imitation  of  con- 
dolence, "there  was  one  who  would  have 
softened  the  harshness  of  old  age!  Allow  me 
to  weep  over  him  with  you!" 

"The  mischief!  are  we  mistaken  in  the  ge- 
nus?" muttered  Saverny  to  his  sole  confidant, 
"this  is  rather  a  crying  hyena  than  a  raven!" 

"What  is  he  driving  at?"  remarked  the  ban- 
neret, bewildered. 

The  two  gentlemen  approached  the  couple 
so  as  to  overhear  the  dialogue. 

"Never  was  there  a  better  disposition  in  a 
young  and  handsome  gentleman!"  proceeded 
Laffemas,  still  hovering  around  his  prey,  so  to 
say,  without  daring  to  take  the  seat  beside 
the  mourning  one.  "He  served  the  All-Merci- 
ful as  faithfully  as  he  did  our  Highness  the 
King,  son  of  that  Henry  whom  your  lordship 
served  so  truly!  How  reserved  the  youthful 
lord  was  toward  the  gentler  sex!" 

"What  a  liar!"  muttered  Saverny.     "This  is 


352     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

a  scoundrel  to  be  whipped  out  of  the  yard  on 
sight  r 

"Just  was  he  in  his  deeds,"  said  the  panegy- 
rist, lifting  his  voice  on  perceiving  that  he  was 
alluring  an  audience  in  the  squires  who  gradu- 
ally drew  near  under  pretence  of  bowing  to 
the  host.  "Wise  was  his  discourse  and  he 
handled  a  very  pretty  pen!" 

''Still  harping  on  my  lampoon!"  thought  Sa- 
verny, pulling  at  his  false  mustache  which 
almost  bristled  with  his  mixed  pride  and  ap- 
prehension. 

"Many  of  the  quips  and  cartwitcliets  which 
amuse  the  finer  minds  of  the  capital  are  attrib- 
uted to  him!" 

"The  deuce  they  are!"  thought  Saverny, 
wishing  for  a  gag  to  silence  this  belauder. 

"In  one  late  and  notable  instance,  the  King 
himself  deigned  to  laugh — and  the  skies  above 
rarely  reflect  the  laugh  of  the  morose  son  of 
the  amoroso  King  Henry  of  Navarre  and 
France! — the  marquis  had  composed  a  most 
happv  hit  at  the  roval  Edict  against  chin- 
tufts—" 

Saverny  hastily  put  his  hand  over  his  goatee. 

"I  would  it  were  meet  that  one  might  recite 
a  pasquin  on  a  mundane  subject  on  this  occa- 
sion, but  the  saints  forbid  I  should  mar  your 
lordship's  dolor!  In  fine,  this — "  he  indicated 
the  chapel  with  a  flourish  of  his  Cambray  hand- 
kerchief, "this  was  a  brave  and  perfect  noble- 
man, whom  all  the  historians  will  celebrate! 
To  die  thus  and  so  untimely!" 

Laffemas  buried  his  face  in  his  handkerchief 
and  sobbed.  The  auditory  respectfully  echoed 
the  outcry.  The  marquis  was  visibly  deepened 
in  his  grief,  and  he  hid  his  countenance  in  his 
thin  hands. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  353 

"Old  Nick  fly  away  with  mv  funeral  orator!" 
whispered  Saverny  to  Brichanteau;  "do  you 
not  soo  that  he  makes  mine  uncle  the  more 
miserable  by  praising  me  up  to  the  skies? 
Prithee,  can  you  not  temper  the  affliction  by 
running  me  down  on  the  descending  scale — 
confound  him!" 

"The  man  is  a  domestic  of  a  lady  of  whom 
you  were  fond!  He  thinks  to  curry  favor  with 
me  and  the  rest  of  the  family  bv  laying  the 
colors  on  thick,  as  the  Egyptian  priests  gilded 
the  mummy  of  the  patrons  who  paid  best! 
But  let  me  try  to  undo  this  extravagant  and 
hurtful  praise!" 

He  advanced,  and  elbowing  Laffemas  a  little 
aside  from  the  still  seated  noble,  said  with  no 
politeness: 

"You  will  excuse  me,  sir,  but  you  do  not 
know  what  goes  on  in  the  town!  You  are  mis- 
taken, all  through,  in  judging  my  poor  boon- 
companion  Saverny!" 

The  old  marquis  turned  a  tearful  eye  to  this 
interrupter  and  a  slight  ire  kindled  in  his 
dulled  orbs. 

"Saverny  was  not  a  jolly  companion!  He 
was  a  dullard  and  scoffer  at  the  outset  and,  by 
my  hope  of  salvation,  deteriorated  every  day!'' 

On  the  secret,  Saverny  gave  him  a  little  nod 
ef  approval. 

"Witty?  He  was,  believe  me,  the  greatest 
noodle  of  the  many  idiots  who  dangled  hope- 
lessly around  the  fan  of  Mademoiselle  Marion 
Delorme!  That  you  ought  to  know,  as  at- 
tached to  her  house!  Brave — who  is  not  brave 
who  comes  of  the  Xangis  stock?  Hut  he  did 
not  handle  the  sword  as  well  as  he  did  the 
pen   of    which    you    boast — for,   look     vou.r  a 


354     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

stranger  ran  him  through,  as  a  butcher  sticks 
a  great  pig!" 

"This  is  too  strong!"  muttered  Saverny,  try- 
ing to  silence  his  advocate  by  a  sign. 

"As  for  the  pasquin,  he  repudiated  it — all 
believe  his  plea  that  it  was  written  by  the 
fellow  who  composed  his  love  and  other  let- 
ters! In  conclusion,  dear  my  kinsman,  his 
death  is  worthy  of  no  consideration — save  the 
family,  in  honor  bound,  none  mourn  him  but 
the  creditors  whom  he  fooled  daily  and,  per- 
haps, a  light-o'-love  whose  jewels  he  borrowed 
to  have  reset  and  pawned  with  the  Lombards!" 

The  judge  had  been  discomfited  by  this  out- 
break, which  also  astonished  the  other  hear- 
ers, coming  from  the  deceased's  "best  man." 

"Do  you  decry  the  late  lord  for  fighting  a 
duel!"  said  he;  "that  is  a  pretty  cause  of  blame 
— that,  a  crime!  that  reprehensible  to  you  who, 
methinks,  have  been  in  the  Army — " 

"As  vou,  methinks,  have  been  sometime  in 
the  law!"  retorted  Brichanteau,  contemptuous- 
ly rapping  the  speaker's  cane,  which  with  its 
gilt  tip  to  an  ebony  cane  resembled  a  wand  of 
office. 

Laffemas  turned  greenish  white  with  alarm; 
he  was  alone  on  a  strange  ground  where  his 
true  address  might  not  win  him  a  friend. 

"Continue  to  malign  me,"  whispered  Saverny 
who  saw  that  his  uncle  had  lost  his  sorrowful 
air  for  one  of  perplexity  at  the  cousin's  unex- 
pected denunciation. 

"Uncle,  Saverny  was  false-spoken,  touchy, 
ungrateful  even  to  those  who  paid  his  gam- 
ing debts!  The  truth  to  tell,  he  was  not  to  be 
regretted !" 

"Sir,  he  was  often  seen  in  the  churches!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  355 

interrupted  Laffernas,  seeing  that  he  was  los- 
ing ground. 

"Ay,  to  wink  at  the  fair  devotees  and  offer 
Ihem  the  holy  water  as  they  went  out  to  their 
chairs!  For  Saverny  was  a  rash,  silly  liber- 
tine!" 

"Von  are  going  on  finely,"  whispered  the 
pleased  object  of  these  cross-purposes. 

"Whv  did  he  not  get  on  in  the  Army?"  con- 
tinned  Brichanteau,  emboldened;  "because  he 
was  mutinous  and  not  docile,  as  this  gentle- 
man, who  taught  him  the  rudiments  of  drill, 
will  testify!" 

Saverny  bowed. 

"Handsome?  Ah,  sir,"  turning  to  Laffemas, 
"surely  you  had  not  seen  my  poor  cousin  re- 
cently! He  had  lost  his  good  looks,  as  who 
would  not  who  turned  night  into  day  and  so 
dimmed  his  eyes  with  the  lamps  of  the  basset- 
table  and  the  private  theatre  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  use  one  of  those  double-convex  rubies 
for  an  eyeglass,  the  like  of  which  the  bald 
Julius  Caesar,  saith  ancient  history,  employed 
of  yore!  Purblind;  his  blonde  hair  became 
red;  his  slightly  bent  shoulders  positively 
hunched!  All  said  it  was  in  pity  that  a  lass 
here  and  there  wasted  a  smile  upon  him!'' 

"Enough!"'  muttered  Saverny,  treading  on  his 
voluble  friend's  foot. 

The  old  marquis  had  a  touch  of  color  on  his 
wan  cheek  and  his  hands  began  to  twitch  as 
though  he  sought  for  a  cane  to  chastise  this 
tco-frank  friend. 

"It  must  have  been  pity  that  made  the  Cyth- 
erians  smile,"  resumed  Brichanteau,  taking 
breath,  and  delighted  at  this  opportunity  to 
pay  off  some  petty  scores,  "for  he  had  no  lucre 
to  purchase  their  sunshine!     Generous  as  was 


356     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

his  uncle,  copious  as  the  yield  of  his  estate — 
on  my  word,  he  dissipated  all  over  the  dice  and 
cards!  The  notorious  Delorme  girl  had  been 
his  queen  of  hearts — faith !  That  on  the  paste- 
board was  all  the  one  worshiped   now!" 

The  old  marquis  tried  to  rise,  but  sank  back 
and  his  lips,  white  with  indignation,  quivered 
in  attempts  to  utter  a  scathing  sentence. 

Laffemas  thrust  himself  forward  as  his 
spokesman  and  boldly  addressed  the  banneret. 

''My  lord,  it  is  inexcusable  to  speak  thus  of 
a  deceased  nobleman  who  was  also  your  friend 
and  kinsman!" 

A  murmur  of  approval  greeted  the  defence. 
Decidedly,  Brichanteau  was  overdoing  the 
dash  of  acid  in  the  sauce. 

"If  you  think  that  I  am  overcharging  the 
picture,"  said  the  gentleman,  plucking  Saver- 
ny  by  the  sleeve,  "ask  this  officer." 

Thus  put  forward,  Saverny  replied,  with  infi- 
nite embarrassment  which  the  beholders 
thought  did  him  honor: 

"Sir,  he  was  my  patron — I  will  uphold  that 
he  was  all  that  you  say  he  is  not  with  sword 
or  lance,  on  horse  or  afoot!" 

"Bravo!"  said  Laffemas,  assisting  the  old 
lord  to  rise  and  transferring  him  to  his  valet 
with  a  commiserating  air.  "My  lord,  let  this 
worthy  majordonio  console  you  in  one  way  while 
I  do  the  same  in  another!  Hark  ye,"  he  con- 
( inued  as  the  valet  led  the  mourner  aloof  from 
Brichanteau  at  whom  he  darted  a  reproachful 
glance,  "we  shall  soon  have  his  murderer  un- 
der safe  ward!  His  case  is  certain  to  end  in 
the  march  to  the  gallows!  The  King  has  said 
so — and  his  Eminence  the  Cardinal-Minister 
has  confirmed  if!  Your  sorrow  penetrates  my 
very  heart!" 


OR.  RICHELIEU  DEFIED 

This  sneaking-soul  possess  ;i  heart?"  s;ii<l 
Brichantean   to   Saverny. 

"Well,"  concluded  Laffemas,  standing  on  lip- 
toe  and  hissing  after  the  departing  lord  with 
ext ended  neck,  "we  will  hang  this  Didier  with 
whom  the  noble  lord  condescended  to  cross 
swords — from  vour  own  turret  flagstaff  if  yon 
like!" 

"Didier?"  repeated  Sa  veiny,  leaning  on 
Brichanteau's  arm,  much  as  Nangis  did  on  his 
valet :  "what  a  peasant  I  was  to  fight  with 
the  man  to  whom  I  owed  my  life!  Yes,  it  is 
the  same;  I  can  see  that  now." 

A  tall,  thin  man  in  black,  the  worse  for  wear 
and  smelling  of  the  fetid  drugs  used  by  the 
embalmer  of  that  benighted  day,  came  running 
up  to  say  a  wrord  to  the  old  marquis  who  had 
relapsed  into  his  reverie,  after  the  collision 
of  opinions  of  which  his  bosom  was  the  clash- 
ing-ground. 

"What  do  yon  want?"  challenged  Brichan- 
tean. 

"I  am  the  undertaker's  assistant!  Is  the 
hour  settled  for  the  interment  of  the  late  Lord 
Xa  zaire?" 

"I"  interposed  Saverny,  solemnly,  "I  will  fix 
the  hour  for  that  function  I" 

The  country  gentlemen  had  turned  aside  on 
the  master's  departure  toward  the  castle. 

Laffemas  watched  Saverny  and  his  friend 
with  growing  suspicion,  but  of  what  foundation 
from  their  collusion — a  follower  of  fashion  and 
a  rough  soldier — he  knew  hot  with  any  clear 
definition. 

"Why  am  I  loitering  here?"  he  questioned  of 
himself,  as  he  entered  the  kind  of  greenery  and 
alcove  where  the  old  hosl  had  rested.  "Is  there 
need  for  me  to  see  the  interment  of  the  marquis. 


358     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

or  at  least  his  coffin's  deposition  on  the  shelf 
of  his  family  vault  to  be  able  to  file  my  state- 
ment that  one  of  the  principals  in  the  fatal 
duel  is  out  of  the  grasp  of  the  law?  I  am  los- 
ing precious  time,  for  my  grandam  must  be 
dead  and  stark  before  this  by  hours,  and  since 
she  would  not  have  betrayed  me,  fond  of  her 
kin  as  she  was!  and  subtle  the  poison — nobody 
but  an  enemy  like  Father  Joseph  will  hint  that 
the  judge  in  whose  chambers  she  is  found  a 
corpse,  had  a  hand  in  her  taking  off!  Yet  I 
am  anxious  about  that  foe!  Kichelieu  lends  an 
ear  to  him,  and  on  him  shares,  with  his  kit- 
tens, an  affection  with  which  I  am  not  pro- 
fusely regaled.  Is  there  anything  in  the  fable 
of  the  voice  of  nature!  Would  he  feel  a  twinge 
if  he  confronted  this  Didier — in  whom  I  see 
traces  of  a  likeness!  Ah,  I  must  crush  this 
viper  and  reduce  him  to  carrion,  bloated  be- 
yond likeness  of  man,  even!'' 

While  meditating,  he  relaxed  his  knees  and 
sat  down  on  the  bank,  near  to  the  spot  which 
Nangis  had  occupied. 

A  roar  of  laughter  from  Saverny  and  his 
companion  cracked  the  air  and  made  all  eyes 
turn  toward  the  bower. 

The  pressure  on  a  spring,  concealed  in  the 
seat,  had  released  the  stop  on  the  conduit  pipe 
attached  to  the  Triton.  The  marble  figure 
promptly  poured  a  stream  of  icy  water  upon 
the  unfortunate  judge  who  was  so  shocked  and 
bewildered  by  the  discharge  that  he  stood 
transfixed  in  the  spout  as  if  frozen. 

Then  he  staggered  out  of  the  spray, 
drenched,  and  dripping  like  the  Triton  itself. 

Spite  of  the  sentiment  which  the  vicinity  of 
the  dead  above  ground  usually  spreads,  all  wit- 
nesses of  the  ducking  of  the  little  lawyer  or 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  359 

steward — another  name  for  harrier  among  the 
hounds  which  torment  the  farming  class — 
burst  into  a  peal  of  laughter  which  accompa- 
nied him  by  echoes,  and  by  repetitions  from 
the  servants  and  guests  in  the  park,  as  he  re- 
treated, sputtering  cold  water  and  threats  of 
so  sulphurous  a  nature  that  they  almost  con- 
verted his  execrations  into  visible  steam. 

On  the  road,  out  of  hearing  of  the  hilarity, 
he  stopped  to  remove  his  outer  garments  and 
shake  them,  as  well  as  his  wig. 

"Oh,  to  repay  them  all  and,  chiefly,  that  one- 
eyed  officer,  with  his  'mignon'  companion,  for 
this  piece  of  horseplay!  what  malevolent  god- 
mother led  me  into  that  water-trap — now  that 
I  have  lost  my  own  beldame?  Oh,  to  be 
revenged  upon  all  under  that  roof!  If  the 
young  master  had  not  escaped  us  by  dying  of 
the  wound  Didier  inflicted  I  could  rejoice  at 
seeing  him  and  that  hated  one  adorn  the  same 
triple  tree!*' 

Out  of  sheer  malice  he  had  already  given  the 
poor  old  lord  as  much  pain  as  lay  in  his  power 
at  the  moment. 

Forced  to  confess  that  the  means  of  gratify- 
ing his  ill-will  could  not  be  invented  by  his 
whs,  he  retraced  his  steps  towards  the  wayside 
taphouse  where  he  expected  to  pick  up  his  es- 
cort and  resume  the  hunt  for  Didier  among  the 
strolling  players. 

He  was  partly  pleased  and  partly  annoyed 
on  seeing  several  of  his  arquebusiers  and  their 
captain  on  the  road,  coming  his  way. 

There  was  a  man  in  black  in  their  midst, 
bestriding  a  farm-colt,  whose  presence  puzzled 
him  till  all  drew  so  near  that  he  recognised 
him  at  the  same  time  as  he  was  identified  by 
them. 


360     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE- 

He  saw,  too,  that  they  grinned  at  his  damp 
clothing  and  bedraggled  wig. 

"It  is  Cberet,"  muttered  he.  "What  is  my 
secretary,  whom  I  left  at  Blois,  doing  with  my 
guards?" 

He  turned  pale  and  but  for  a  tremor  in  his 
legs  would  have  struggled  through  the  hedge 
and  tried  to  make  his  escape  over  the  fields. 

"The  murder  of  the  old  hag  has  been  discov- 
ered, and  I  am  blamed  for  it!"  he  fearfully  con- 
jectured. "Cheret  has  undertaken  to  pursue 
me  and  bring  me  to  the  bar  of  justice!  a  pretty 
thing  for  a  judge,  who  came  down  to  try  a  fore- 
doomed criminal,  to  be  tried  in  the  same  court! 
Rather  than  that — well,  I  do  not  know  what 
course  is  preferable!  but,  nonsense!"  he  added, 
since  now  flight  was  out  of  the  question  as  the 
horsemen  would  rapidly  run  him  down,  "the 
old  woman  would  never  have  denounced  me! 
how  staunch  was  she  to  the  poachers  in  the 
days  when  I  was  not  yet  born!  it  is  a  proverb 
at  Richelieu!  she  would  not  betray  her  own 
flesh-and-blood !" 

So  saying,  he  awaited,  though  with  trepida- 
tion, the  coming  up  of  the  arquebusiers. 

They  had  collected  to  the  number  of  fifteen; 
three  or  four  more,  of  a  rear-guard,  hastening 
up  on  a  call  of  the  bugle. 

The  captain  had  called  in  his  stragglers,  it 
was  evident,  and  all  had  joined  the  squad  at 
the  Wisp-of-Straw. 

Cheret  had  been  the  nucleus  around  which 
all  gathered  and  he  was  their  pilot  who  re- 
gained their  master  for  them. 

"Cheret!  our  dear  Cheret!"  exclaimed  Laffe- 
mas  quickly,  to  preclude  any  questioning  on 
his  lamentable  appearance,  "how  glad  I  am  to 
see  you — " 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  361 

"And  I  reciprocate,  except  that  I  did  not 
want  to  see  your  honor  in  this  plight/' 

"It  is  nothing — I  missed  my  way  and  my 
footing — I  fell  into  the  ditch,"  faltered  Laffe- 

mas. 

"What  a  sad  mishap!  but  I  see,  some  good 
Samaritan  gave  yon  a  pair  of  shoes  and  stock- 
ings, for  they  are  not  wet!" 

"A  truce  to  bewailing  my  accident,"  hastily 
said  the  judge;  "how  is  it  you  are  on  this 
road — " 

"My  master,"  said  the  secretary,  in  his  turn 
embarrassed,  "I  was  sent  about  my  business, 
from  Blois,  by  Father  Joseph — " 

"Scut  about  yout  business?" 

While  the  soldiers  formed  a  group  and  re- 
freshed their  horses  with  a  little  grass,  plucked 
for  them  with  the  solicitude  good  troopers 
show  for  their  chargers,  the  two  men  in  black 
whispered  together. 

"What  was  the  news  fresh  at  Blois?"  went 
on  Laffemas  impatiently. 

"That  I  was  discharged  by  Father  Joseph 
from  the  Minister's  employ  and  ordered  to  go 
to  town  and  get  my  arrears — " 

"What,  you  so  greedy  for  money,  came  after 
me,  on  the  contrary — " 

"Affection,  your  honor!" 

"Tut,  tut!"  interrupted  the  judge  in  a  tone 
which  showed  he  was  not  to  be  deluded. 

"Besides,  I  had  overdrawn  my  pay  from  the 
Treasurer!" 

"That  is  more  like  my  acute  Cheret  Father 
Joseph  discharged  you!  dear,  dear!  from  my 
service — •" 

"From  the  Cardinal's — " 

"It  is  the  same!" 

"Not   yet!"  returned  the  secretary. 


362  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Laffemas  bit  his  tliin  lips  and  motioned  him 
to  speak  on. 

"He  told  me  that,  as  the  Minister  paid  me, 
I  was  in  the  Minister's  service!  Father  Joseph 
is  not  one  to  argue  with." 

"What  possessed  you  to  run  after  me?" 
queried  Laffemas  with  suspicion,  frowning. 
"What  occasioned  his  dismissing  you!'' 

"I  refused  him  admission  to  your  apartments 
in  the  Castle!" 

"It  was  my  order — " 

"At  which  the  Grey  Daemon  snapped  his 
fingers!" 

His  colloquist  shuddered. 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  that  he  removed  you 
from  the  guard  at  the  door?" 

"And  the  guard,  too!" 

Laffemas  turned  green,  like  one  with  a  nau- 
sea. He  made  an  effort  to  speak  and  tried  two 
or  three  times  to  swallow  as  if  something 
choked  him;  he  had  seen  the  same  effect  of 
dread  in  persons  on  whom  he  uttered  sentence 
of  death. 

"Then,  he  entered  the  room  ?" 

"Your  honor,  he  entered  and  found  the  old 
townswoman  dead  whom  you  hired  to  sweep 
it  out  and  prepare  it  for  your  return." 

"Dead!" 

"Dead,  as  that  cat  in  the  stagnant  ditch!" 

Laffemas  wanted  to  express  horror,  pity — 
some  emotion  natural  under  the  discovery,  but 
he  could  not  imagine  what  a  guiltless  one 
would  say. 

Cheret  must  have  guessed  the  worst,  but  all 
he  said  was: 

"They  said,  in  the  Castle,  that  the  doctor 
went  running  to  the  rooms  and  came  slowly 
out  of  them.    He  is  mad  on  the  subject  of  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  363 

Black  Death  and,  of  course,  pronounced  the 
sudden  stroke  to  be  that  of  the  Pest." 

"Ah!"  sighed  Laffeinas,  relieved. 

"But  mv  opinion  is — " 

"Your  opinion?"  repeated  the  other,  with  a 
wrench  at  his  heart  again  where  raininess  had 
fallen.  "You  have  a  medical  opinion,  M.  Che- 
ret,  forsooth?" 

"I  do  not  see,  my  lord,  why  I  should  not 
have  a  medical  opinion,"  impudently  retorted 
the  secretary,  lowering  his  voice  without  that 
lessening  the  pertness,  "when  the  pastry-cook 
of  your  honor  has  a  medicated  glaze  for  his 
patties!" 

"What  say  you?"  and  he  lowered  his  voice, 
while  blanching. 

".Merely  that  the  old  woman  died,  I  take  it, 
of  eating  too  greedily  of  the  fruit  and  pasty 
provided  for  your  honor's  refection!  Plague 
on  it!  it  is  time  she  died,  she  who  set  all  Paris 
by  the  ears,  and  for  whom  the  new  Lieutenant- 
Criminal  would  be  seeking  to  burn  her  alive, 
mayhap,  as  a  sorceress!" 

"Of  whom  are  you  speaking,  dear  M.  Che- 
ret?"  said  Laffemas,  in  perplexitj-  wThich  over- 
came his  fears. 

"I  am  surprised  you  did  not  recognise,  in  this 
old  woman  who  had  sunk  so  low  as  to  do  char- 
woman's work,  the  Witch  of  Blanchapelle 
Lane,  at  Paris — " 

-The  Witch—" 

"Certainly!  And  yet,  how  would  you  have 
guessed  that,  forasmuch  as,  in  her  scene  of  in- 
cantations, she  wore  a  wax  mask  of  superfine 
execution!  she  tied  through  the  lingers  of  that 
stupid  Laubardemont,  who  lias  for  such  feeble- 
ness lost  the  office  of  Lieutenant-Criminal,  and 
she  sought  refuge  in  Blois." 


364     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"A  fugitive  from  justice?  what  a  narrow  es- 
cape I  had!  he,  he!  Had  I  lingered  at  Blois,  it 
might  have  been  said  that  I  harbored  this  runa- 
gate, of  whose  identity  with  the  Parisian  ma- 
gician, I  give  you  my  word,  I  had  not  the  slight- 
est suspicion!" 

"That  is  the  right  thing  to  say,"  observed 
Cheret  approvingly.  "Without  her  mask,  how 
the  mischief  could  you  be  thought  to  know  her? 
pardy!" 

"How  is  it  anybody  down  here  knew  her?" 

"Nobody  who  had  not  dwelt  under  the  same 
roof  could  have  done  it!"  continued  the  secre- 
tary. "But  her  maid,  at  Paris,  had  come  to 
Blois  to  see  a  gallant  of  hers  before  he  died  in 
the  Castle  ward — " 

"Lou—" 

" — Isette,  exactly!"  finished  Cheret  coolly. 
"She  arrived  in  time  to  see  two  of  her  precious 
acquaintances  elude  the  new  Lieutenant-Crim- 
inal—" 

"Yes,  yes,  the  new  Lieutenant — who  is  not 
Laubardemont,  you  have  said — Who  has  been 
appointed?" 

"My  lord,"  replied  the  secretary  with  sudden 
respectfulness  as  if  he  recollected  something  to 
change  his  key,  "after  sauntering  in  Blois,  cog- 
itating on  my  dismissal  by  the  Grey  Robe,  and 
gleaning  all  the  particulars  of  the  events  agi- 
tating the  dormouse  town,  videlicet:  the  duel 
under  the  very  decree  against  it;  the  death  of 
the  Marquis  of  Saverny,  and  the  escape  by  sub- 
stitution for  the  dying  Matamore  of  the  Blois- 
ian  named  Didier;  the  death  of  the  refugee 
Witch  of  Paris  by — pest  or  poison;  who  should 
ride  in  at  the  bridge  gates  but  a  royal  mes- 


senger— 


"A  royal  messenger!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  365 

"1  understand  your  surprise — this  time,  h 
was  a  royal  and  not  a  cardinalistic  messenger. 
He  was  seeking  your  honor!" 

"Seeking  uk  His  color  going  and  coming 
irregularly. 

Cherel  flipped  a  large  letter,  with  an  enor- 
mous rod  seal  on  the  envelope,  out  of  his  inner 
pocket,  and  dropped  on  one  knee,  having  dis 
mounted  since  his  master  had  conferred  with 
him.  after  the  manner  of  heralds  before  a  mon- 
arch. 

"The  seal  of  State!"  cried  out  Laffemas 
snatching  it  and  bursting  silk  and  wax  in  his 
haste.  "Long  life  to  the  King!  I  am  appointed 
Lieutenant-Criminal !" 

His  heart  beat  tnmultuously  and  a  mist  cov- 
ered his  little  grey  eyes  which  seemed  unable 
to  contain  the  light  of  exultation  which  illumi- 
nated them. 

"How  good  is  the  King!"  said  Cheret,  and 
without  pausing,  he  added:  "How  good  is  the 
Cardinal!" 

"An  older  is  enclosed!  I  am  to  prosecute  the 
slayer  of  the  Marquis  of  Saverny  to  the  death!" 

"To  do  which  you  must  pursue  him."  said 
Cheret. 

"Alas!  we  have  been  baffled!"  sighed  Laffe- 
mas. "But  procure  me  a  carriage!  If  wre  scour 
the  country — " 

"My  lord,  I  forgot  to  mention  that  I  also 
gleaned  at  Blois,  for  my  budget,  that  the  pre- 
tended Matamore  joined  the  company  of  play- 
ers to  which  belonged  once  on  a  Time  the  real 
actor-ruffler!" 

"Well,  we  were  following  their  caravan,  but 
it  vanished  in  the  mists!" 

"My  lord,  when  I  quitted  the  College  of 
Amiens,  do  you  know  what  I  most  reproached 


36(3     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBEf 

the  good  fathers  for  having  taught  roe?    to 
walk  with  eyes  east  down  in  meekness!" 

"What  trifles  are  you  flirting  with,  as  the  jes- 
ter balances  a  feather?  Let  us  to  horse  and 
hunt  for  the  strollers — " 

"I  am  coming  to  them,"  continued  Cheret 
with  provoking  slowness  wdiich  he  his  master 
dared  not  rebuke,  "Thanks  to  this  downcast 
direction  of  the  vision,  I  often  see  what  others 
overlook!  When  I  left  Blois,  I  noticed  that 
the  wheel  of  one  of  the  players'  carts  was  loose 
of  the  tire.  That  wrobbling  mark  enabled  me  to 
track  it  far.  Then  they  had  it  mended  at  a 
smithy,  but  I  procured  an  accurate  description 
of  the  new  band  of  iron,  which  was  clumsy  and 
made  another-guess  sort  of  a  mark,  as  easv  to 
follow—" 

"You  followed  and  you  have  housed  them!" 
said  Laffemas  with  glee. 

"My  lord,  I  was  on  that  track  with  the 
guards,  whom  I  brought  together  from  their 
scattered  halting-places,  little  hoping  to  meet 
my  lord  and  present  him  with  the  opportunity 
to  justify  his  high  promotion  by  capturing  this 
malapert  Didier — a  plain  petty  gentleman  who 
has  dared  to  kill  a  marquis  of  old  stock  as  a 
peasant  boy  spits  a  frog  on  a  willow  wand!" 

"Let  us  follow  at  once!"  cried  Laffemas. 

"Take  my  horse.  I  can  stick  to  the  mark  of 
the  wheel  better  on  foot." 

The  cavalcade  started  on  this  singular  quest. 
In  the  van  wralked  the  secretary,  with  his  eyes 
on  the  dust,  as  if  he  had  lost  a  purse.  Behind 
him,  rode  his  employer,  ill  at  ease  on  the  cart- 
horse but  ignoring  his  pains  in  the  double  lux- 
ury of  gloating  over  his  new7  office  and  the  pros- 
pect of  arresting  Didier,  the  whole  ecstasy  a 
little — only  a  little — diluted  by  the  shadow  of 


OK,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  3b7 

the  Grey  Robed  one,  which  would  intercept  the 
rays  from  the  iris. 

"Cheret  suspects  that  old  Dame  Hose  was 
poisoned — what  thinks  Father  Joseph?" 

But  while  the  police  agents  mighl  hesitate 
to  arrest  a  Master  of  the  Requests  Court,  they 
would  forbear  from  lifting  a  hand  against  their 
chief.  He  might  bask  for  a  little  period,  at  all 
events,  in  the  glory  of  his  elevation. 

"Much  will  the  King  and  Cardinal  pardon  in 
him  who  punishes  the  upstart  who  mocked  at 
their  Edict!"  thought  he. 

The  track  deviated  like  a  clue  dropped  by  a 
playful  hand,  but  all  things  come  to  an  end. 

It  was  as  the  cavalry  stumbled  and  the  riders 
grumbled  upon  the  need  to  bait  their  horses, 
that  Cheret  exclaimed,  as  he  pointed  past  a 
grove  of  young  walnuts  which  had  obscured 
the  distance: 

"There!  the  train  of  carts  and  ragged  ranters 
winds  into  that  castle  gate!" 

"That  Castle!"  repeated  the  new  Lieutenant- 
Criminal,  astonished  at  the  trick  of  fate,  "it 
is  the  Castle  of  Nangis!  Impossible  that  merry- 
makers would  be  welcomed  there!  the  black 
tlag  is  living — the  Marquis  of  Saverny  is  lying 
in  the  chapel  there — hark!  the  bell  tolls  as  the 
prayers  are  said  over  his  cold  corpse!'' 

"They  enter,  corpse  or  no  corpse!  And  de- 
pend upon  it,  not  only  is  the  man  Didier  in 
their  midst,  but — "  he  rose  towards  Laffemas 
who  bent  over  the  horse's  neck  towards  him,  so 
attractive  was  his  glance,  and  added,  with  a 
stress  which  proved  thai  he  knew  his  master's 
infatuation,  "the  supreme  decoy-duck,  Marion 
Delorme!" 


368     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE  MEANNESS  OF  A  NOBLE. 

Cheret  had  not  mistaken:  it  was  the  com- 
pany of  Mondori  which  sought  shelter  in  Nan- 
gis  Castle. 

No  sooner  had  the  dogs  of  the  guests,  stray- 
ing over  the  grounds  after  the  bones  mixed 
with  the  rushes  swept  out  of  the  halls  and  kit- 
chen, perceived  the  strangers,  particularly  dis- 
liking those  who  carried  bundles  of  clothes  and 
the  musical  instruments,  than  they  set  up  a 
furious  baying.  The  hounds,  deprived  of  exer- 
cise lately,  not  only  joined  in  the  clamor  with 
yelping  but  broke  their  bounds  and  came  rush- 
ing, pellmell,  with  the  curs,  to  surround  the 
new-comers  and  menace  them  with  exposed 
fangs. 

The  players  drew  their  theatrical  weapons, 
which  were  real  enough  for  a  combat,  and 
stood  on  guard  before  the  tower  until  a  valet 
ran  up  and  the  whippers  drove  off  the  dogs. 

In  the  midst  of  the  hubbub,  as  unseemly  as 
the  merriment  attending  the  ducking  of  Judge 
Laffemas,  Saverny,  in  his  quality  of  conductor 
of  the  funeral,  approached  and  curiously  re- 
garded the  actors,  recognising  Mondori,  who 
bore  a  marked  reputation  in  Paris,  and  quiz- 
zing the  ladies  of  the  troupe,  who,  however,  pre- 
sented no  very  charming  aspect  in  dishabille 
and  without  toilet  embellishment. 

One  of  the  latter  piqued  his  inquisitiveness 
as  she  remained  draped  in  a  mantilla,  in  the 
Spanish  mode,  and  kept  the  background,  al- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  369 

though  her  grace  of  carriage  and  evidenl  ex- 
cellence of  form  should  have  placed  her  fore 
most,  if  she  had  the  Thespian's  usual  vanity. 

Appealed  to  for  harbor,  Saverny  gravely  ac- 
corded permission  for  the  wanderers  to  be  en- 
tertained,  warmly  enough  to  palliate  their  dis- 
appointment nt  not  being  able  to  repay  with 
an  exhibition  of  their  talents. 

"Give  them  the  red  barn,"  said  he  to  the  but- 
ler. "Hark  ye!  the  Marquis  of  Nangis  is  in 
mourning  for  his  nephew,  so  behave  decently 
and  make  as  litt le  noise  as  von  can.  To-morrow 
we  bury  the  dead  heir  to  this  estate,  you  tinder- 
stand,  so  that  you  must  not  raise  your  jocose 
songs  and  recite  your  comic  scenes  to  mingle 
inharmoniously  with  the  psalms  which  will 
be  sounding  in  the  chapel  this  night." 

"We  shall  make  less  hullaballoo  than  your 
pack  of  dogs  did  when  they  came  to  yap 
around  our  shins,"  said  the  chief  comedian. 

•'Impertinent  one,  have  a  care  for  your  ears!" 
interrupted  an  indignant  servant.  "Dogs  are 
not  strolling-players,  'fore  heaven!" 

Mondori  turned  angrily  on  his  actor,  saying: 

"Hold  your  peace — do  you  want  us  to  be 
turned  out  to  sleep  on  the  highway!" 

The  grateful  comedians  filed  before  Saverny 
and  bowed  to  him  as  representative  of  the  gen- 
erous host.    Had  Brichanteau  been  bv,  or  am- 

*  * 

one  whom  Marion  would  have  recalled  as  a 
town  gallant,  she  would  have  continued  her  pre- 
cautions, but  who  could  perceive  in  the  bat- 
tered veteran  a  Narcissus  of  the  time?  So  she 
let  her  veil  fall  aside  as  she  paced  by  with 
Didier  at  her  elbow.  The  marquis  had  but  one 
eye  available  but  it  saw  enough.  Moreover, 
the  peerless  beauty  was  not  to  be  mistaken. 
"It  is  Marion!"  muttered  Saverny  as  he  was 


370  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

left  alone.  "What  an  odd  occurrence,  though 
no  more  strange  than  the  prank  I  am  forced  to 
carry  on!  Marion  among  these  mountebanks! 
But  how  finely  the  Spanish  costume  becomes 
her — how  elegantly  fits  that  green  basquin!  If 
I  could  be  wrong,  a  comparison  with  the  por- 
trait which  I  always  carry,  in  her  memory, 
would  set  me  right!" 

He  looked  at  a  medallion  painted  expressly 
for  him  by  the  royal  painter. 

"Is  she  stage-struck?  or  has  she  made  a  new 
conquest  among  the  tinsel  monarchs?  She  is 
not  a  woman  to  scamper  over  the  country  all 
alone!  I  must  question  one  of  the  party  about 
her." 

Since  the  main  object  of  Mondori  was  to 
place  his  two  wards  in  security,  according  to 
his  understanding  with  Father  Joseph,  one  roof 
was  as  good  as  another;  besides,  the  barn  was 
immensely  capacious  and  admirably  adapted 
for  rehearsals  while  accommodating  the  unde- 
sirable guests  with  plenty  of  sweet  hay. 

The  party  congratulated  themselves  on  their 
good  fortune  and  began  to  regard  Marion  as 
of  fair  omen,  though  the  lugubrious  Didier  did 
not  partake  in  this  impression. 

Saverny  had  not  passed  ten  minutes  in  skirt- 
ing the  barn  precincts  before  he  spied  the  comic 
player,  whom  he  hastened  to  accost. 

But  at  the  first  words  relative  to  the  Donna 
Ximenes  of  the  company,  remembering  his 
manager's  warning  on  that  head,  the  Scara- 
mouche  stammered  and,  catching  sight  of  Did- 
ier, who  came  forth  to  rid  himself  of  the  intol- 
erable surroundings,  he  said: 

"If  you  want  to  learn  anything  about  our 
principal  lady,  why,  apply  to  her  noble  com- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  371 

panion,  this  gentleman!"    And  he  proceeded  on 

his  errand. 

It  was  to  tell  a  droll  story  and  sing  a  funny 
ballad  in  the  kitchen,  spite  of  the  major-domo's 
caution,  in  order  to  obtain  a  relish  for  his  sonp. 

Saverny  had  no  sooner  taken  a  glance  at  the 
new-comer  than  he  was  at  no  loss  to  recognise 
his  antagonist  in  the  duel  and  the  defender  in 
the  conflict  with  Ma  la  rune's  band. 

'"France  forever!"  muttered  he,  adjusting  his 
eye-patch  and  curling  his  mustaches,  "this  is 
my  friend!  he  must  have  given  the  alguazils 
the  slip!" 

Didier  had  bridled  up  at  finding  himself  the 
object  of  this  scrutiny  and  stepped  nearer  the 
marquis. 

"Zounds !"  exclaimed  the  disguised  one,  in  his 
natural  voice,  "if  vou  were  not  the  Master 
Didier  who  was  put  in  prison,  why,  I  will  go 
blind  of  the  other  optic  all  the  rest  of  my  exis- 
tence!" 

The  tone  of  raillery  betraved  him  and  the 
hearer  started  with  amaze. 

"If  the  Marquis  of  Saverny  were  not  dead," 
replied  Didier  in  something  of  the  same  vein, 
"I  should  say  you  are  his  living  self!  But,  dead 
or  revived,  may  his  blood  fall  on  his  own  head 
for  he  brought  it  about  that  I  should  slay  him 
by  his  rash  words." 

"Hush!  you  are  the  man!" 

"And  you,  the  marquis  whom  these  mourn!" 

"Yes;  and  you  were  in  a  certain  room  with  a 
balcony  oven*  which  you  leapt  to  deliver  me 
from  the  night-ninimers!  hence,  I  owe  you  this, 
my  life!" 

But  the  gentleman  of  Blois  drew  back  as  he 
advanced  fraternally  with  open  arms,  as  to  an 
equal. 


372     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Excuse  my  surprise,  marquis,"  returned 
Didier  coolly,  "but  I  am  of  the  impression  that 
our  second  encounter  wiped  out  the  obliga- 
tion r 

"Not  at  all!  You  saved  me — you  did  not  kill 
me.  That  was  a  trick  to  enable  me  to  cheat  the 
myrmidons  of  Richelieu,  as  you  have  done  by 
your  wit  or — "  slyly,  "a  woman's!" 

"What  woman's?''  ejaculated  the  other, 
frowning  and  looking  back  towards  the  barn 
where  the  reek  of  soup  ascended  from  the  air- 
hole and  subdued  chatter  in  a  lively  tone  arose. 

"This!"  rejoined  Saverny,  holding  out  the 
medallion  of  Marion,  "take  it,  happy  mortal! 
you  have  won  the  original  and  I  do  not  care 
any  longer  to  cherish  the  likeness." 

"Ma—" 

"Marion!  yes!  take  it." 

Didier  seized  the  portrait  and  bitterly  gazed 
on  it. 

It  was  Marion  of  the  court,  in  a  rich  dress 
and  jewels,  but  also  "Marie,"  as  he  knew  her, 
with  the  candid  bearing,  intelligent  brow  and 
black  eyes. 

Fiercely  he  began  but  concluded  his  question 
sadly: 

"Was  it  for  you  that  she  sat  for  this?" 

"Happy  man!"  answered  Saverny,  nodding 
affirmatively.  "It  is  you  she  prefers  and  dis- 
tinguishes from  amid  the  host!  Ah,  who  would 
not  become  a  beggar  to  enjoy  her  smiles!" 

Didier  laughed  harshly  and  in  a  desperate 
tone. 

"It  is  plain  that  I  am  very,  very  happy!"  said 
he,  with  his  hand  tightly  closing  on  the  medal 
that  it  might  be  crushed. 

"I  compliment  you,"  continued  the  fop,  bow- 
ing out  of  character  with  his  assumed  rudeness 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  373 

in  mien.    "Marion  is  a  good  sort  of  girl,  egad! 

Never  has  she  consorted  with  any  but  refined 
gentlemen!  One  may  be  proud  of  strutting  on 
any  promenade  with  her,  she  is  so  worthy  of 
admiration.  It  gives  one  a  pretty  effect,  she 
is  so  stylish!  As  they  say  of  such  a  one: 
'That  is  the  fool  to  the  King!'  or  of  another: 
'See  there,  the  familiar  of  the  Prince!'  so  it  will 
be  said  of  you:  'Hail  the  favorite  of  Marion 
Delorme!'" 

With  a  wave  of  the  hand,  he  refused  the  por- 
trait which  Didier  indignantly  was  about  to 
return  to  him. 

"Keep  it,  sir!  it  falls  of  right  to  you." 

"I  thank  you,"  faltered  the  other,  thrusting 
the  medallion  within  his  doublet  much  as 
though  it  were  the  Spartan's  wolf,  even  if  it 
gnawed  his  heart. 

"That  was  she  in  a  Spanish  dress,  of  course! 
'never  saw  her  more  enticing,  'pon  my  honor! 
What  a  merry  company  she  is  in  now!"  said 
he  as  the  players  greeted  some  sally  with  sup- 
pressed but  hearty  laughs.  "But  that  is  noth- 
ing to  the  company  she  dwelt  in,  in  the  town. 
Ah,  the  nights  we  have  had — the  two  Brissacs, 
light  and  soul  of  junketing!  Hist!  the  great 
Cardinal  himself!  Effiat,  Argenteau — 'fore 
heaven!  a  goodly  company!" 

"Rather  too  numerous!"  observed  the  hearer 
grimly.     "How  shameful!" 

"How  excellently  the  Fate  who  plaits  our 
threads  has  woven  this  three-ply!"  resumed  the 
coxcomb.  "I  am  not  going  to  stand  in  your  way 
to  felicity!  I  pass  here  for  defunct!  ha,  ha! 
And  to-morrowr,  they  will  lay  me  on  the  shelf 
in  the  family  vault!  ha,  ha!  You  who  have 
baffled  sleuth-hounds  and  keepers,  and  for 
whom  Marion  deceived  some  castle  governor, 


374:     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

no  doubt,  to  set  you  free,  will  reach  the  king- 
dom's bounds  with  her  among  these  hilarious 
rovers!  Good!  good!  it  will  make  a  story  to 
regale  the  revellers!" 

"A  pretty  story,  indeed!"  said  Didier  gloom- 
ily. 

"Be  on  your  guard  against  a  little  man  in 
black,  who  gave  out  that  he  was  the  lady's 
steward — but,  it  comes  to  me  that  he  is  a  crow 
of  a  higher  flight!  alcalde,  my  dear  Spaniard! 
but,  a  fig  for  the  pettifogger!  Marion  could  al- 
so twist  him  round  her  little  finger!" 

"By  the  precious  Blood!"  exclaimed  Didier, 
his  eyes  flashing,  and  he  stamped  his  foot  as 
on  a  serpent. 

"Pish!  are  you  jealous!"  cried  the  astonished 
courtier.  "Jealous  of  the  queen  of  this  mun- 
dane Olympus?  how  ridiculous!  Poor  Marion! 
poor  child!  would  you  go  to  preach  her  a  ser- 
mon on  Constancy?" 

"I  do  not  preach  Constancy,"  returned  Didier 
in  a  resolute  voice,  "but  I  practise  it,  sir!" 

Bowing,  he  passed  under  the  trees  in  a  soli- 
tary walk,  during  which  his  meditation  became 
more  and  more  involved  and  burdensome. 

Saverny  stood  annoyed  and  embarrassed  at 
this  curt  dismissal. 

"By  St.  Nazaire,  I  am  afraid  that  Marion  has 
degenerated  from  her  stay  at  Blois!  verily,  the 
moss  grows  on  the  rose  leaves!  but  to  think 
that,  while  under  the  shadow  of  the  gallows, 
both  of  us,  Saverny  and  Didier,  can  laugh  at 
the  sentence  in  the  Edict!" 

His  laugh  was  cut  short  by  a  jostle  to  his 
elbow. 

"What  do  you  say,  captain?  that  you  have 
Marion  Delorme  and  her  dear  friend  Didier 
among  your  guests?" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  375 

The  marquis  sharply  turned  and  with  vexa- 
tion, but  it  was  blunted  by  a  sort  of  double 
recognition  appearing  in  the  speaker. 

"Her  steward?"  exclaimed  he. 

"No,  no,  not  the  lady's  steward,  this  time, 
but  Norbert  Laffemas,  the  Lieutenant-Criminal 
of  France  and  Navarre!" 

Sa veiny  did  not  flinch,  but  he  was  startled, 
especially  as  the  judge  had  exchanged  his  outer 
garments  for  a  suit  which  Cheret  must  have 
provided  in  accord  with  the  appointment  he 
tarried,  and  the  proud  functionary  was  backed, 
at  a  little  distance,  by  the  troupe  of  arque- 
busiers. 

"Judge  Laffemas!  the  Cardinal's  Exe— "  be- 
gan the  noble. 

"His  Eminence's  executor  of  special  works! 
ay!  But  what  did  you  say  about  Marion  and 
her  cavalier,  here  present,  prithee,  major- 
domo?" 

The  marquis  shrank  a  little  beneath  those 
sharp  eyes;  but  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that  he 
instantly  recovered  his  equanimity"  through 
aristocratic  pride,  which  enabled  him  to  slip 
prettily  out  of  his  quandary. 

He  perked  up  his  head  naughtily,  and  with 
the  brusqueness  befitting  his  assumption  of  the 
hardened  free-lance,  answered: 

"A  malison  on  the  big-wigs  and  all  their  tag- 
rag,  moreover!  Since  you,  good  my  lord,  ac- 
knowledge that  you  palmed  yourself"off  here  as 
a  domestic,  I  do  not  deem  you  worthy  of  a 
reply!  Address  me  anew  before  gentlemen, 
and  by  the  great  mangonel  of — of — Aristotle! 
I  will  drub  you  out  of  their  presence  with  niv 
scabbard!" 

W  it Ii  thai  he  stalked  swaggeringly  away,  be- 
lieving that   his   cloak     wax"  not    penetrated. 


376     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

When  he  was  at  a  safe  distance,  he  mused  to 
himself: 

"Deuce  take  all  blunderers,  myself  chiefly  in- 
cluded, for  I  have  put  my  foot  in  it,  first  with 
Didier  and  next  with  this  mock  steward!  I 
am  a  bad  actor,  who  makes  errors  in  each  part 
he  undertakes.  Yet  am  I  sinning  in  goodly 
company,  for  we  are  overwhelmed  with  bad 
actors  enow!  What  a  crew  to  engird  our  fasci- 
nating Marion!    Shame!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  377 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

THEMIS  AND  THESPIS. 

Rudely  repulsed  by  the  pretended  adven- 
turer, Laffemas  prowled  over  to  the  barn  where 
be  was  rewarded  by  intercepting  one  of  the 
strollers. 

One  glance  through  the  door  as  this  fellow 
passed  out,  had  confirmed  his  suspicion  and  the 
supporting  hint  from  Saverny. 

The  player  whom  the  Lieutenant-Criminal 
seized  by  the  sleeve  was  Le  Gracieux,  whose 
hump  bark  and  paltry  air  belied  his  name. 

"Who  is  that  member  of  your  band,''  said 
he,  "attired  in  tawdry  Spanish  costume,  who 
keeps  in  the  background  among  ye?" 

"She  performs  the  Ximenes,  what  we  call  the 
leading  ladies,"  was  the  reply,  "but  her  real 
name  I  do  not  know!  we  never  give  our  real 
names  in  the  profession!"  added  he,  loftily, 
"for  under  our  theatrical  cognomens  we  oft 
conceal  famous  ones  of  noted  families!" 

"Famous  nonsense!"  snarled  Laffemas,  but 
he  was  obliged  to  be  coaxing  and  he  fumbled 
in  his  new  clothes  for  his  purse. 

In  the  meantime  the  wily  actor  had  reckoned 
up  his  interlocutor. 

Accustomed  to  circumvent  and  battle  the  of- 
ficers of  the  law,  and  to  perform  such  char- 
acters, which  he  did  with  zest,  he  estimated 
correctly  the  wearer  of  this  still'  raiment  be- 
coming the  magistrate,  the  face  of  an  Italian 
sbirro,  and  (lie  piercing,  small  eye  under  the 
beetling  brow.     He  was  about  to  resume  his 


378  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE;' 

promenade  and  continue  his  study,  when  he 
heard  the  chink  of  coin,  and,  unwonted  as  was 
the  welcome  sound,  he  spun  round  with  the 
celerity  of  an  automaton. 

He  was  not  mistaken:  Laffemas  was  holding 
up  a  fat  purse. 

"So  you  are  interested,  friend,''  said  he,  "in 
our  Ximena?"  and  he  sidled  up,  with  his  eyes 
fixed  on  the  lure.  "You  want  to  know  who 
she  is?" 

"Not  at  all,"  was  the  reply;  "but  who  is  her 
Eodrigo?" 

Upon  this  question  which  indicated  that  Laf- 
femas, though  he  might  not  have  the  appear- 
ance, was  an  amateur  of  plays,  the  actor  smiled 
more  and  more  amiably,  and  nodded  as  he 
said: 

"Oho!  you  want  to  learn  about  her  gallant — 
her  supporter?" 

"Just  so!  is  he  in  there?"  cried  the  judge 
impatiently. 

"They  are  inseparable,  as  befits  lover  and 
beloved!" 

Laffemas  grimaced  as  in  pain  and  hastily 
ordered : 

"Point  him  out  to  me,  and — " 

"Her  lover,"  said  Le  Gracieux,  "you  behold 
him  in  me!" 

Laffemas  felt  like  taking  advantage  of  the 
rogue  bowing  very  lowly  in  sham  humility,  to 
launch  a  kick  at  him,  but  the  trickster  had  him 
at  his  mercy,  perhaps,  and  he  contented  himself 
by  jingling  the  purse  over  the  player's  head, 
to  conceal  his  disappointment. 

"Do  you  know  the  music  of  Genevans?" 
queried  he. 

The  Swiss  coin  was  not  abundant  under 
Mondori's  flag,  but  Le  Gracieux  danced  a  step 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  3?9 

to  whal  the  tempter  called  music,  and  rejoined 
with  ecstasy: 

"Ah!  there  is  unearthly  melody  in  its  notes, 
by  the  mass!" 

Laffemas  chuckled,  thinking  he  had  seemed 
his  prey. 

"Friend,  there  are  twenty  pieces  in  this 
purse." 

••Humph!''  sniffed  the  actor  as  though  they 
had  a  delicious  odor,  malgre  the  Roman  em- 
peror who  perceived  no  smell  in  money. 

"How  would  you  like  to  have  such  music 
played  by  your  own  hand?"  cried  the  judge, 
holding  out  the  rattling  purse  altogether  too 
near  the  avaricious  hands  which  suddenly  and 
dextrously  tore  it  out  of  the  other's  grasp — 
though  it  was  a  tenacious  one. 

"I  do  like  it!  My  lord!"  he  proceeded  in  a 
theatrical  tone,  "if  this  back  of  yours  had  a 
hunch  as  big  as  your  capondined  abdomen,  and 
both  were  money-bags  crammed  with  represen- 
tative coin  of  all  the  realms  and  principalities, 
namely,  sequins,  ducats,  rose  nobles,  drachmas, 
doubloons  and  louis,  look  you!    I  would — " 

'•What?" 

•Slow  all  the  dross  in  mine  own  pouch  and 
say—" 

"What,  what?"' 

"You  are  a  generous  man  and  I  thank  you!" 

"Pest  on  the  ape!" 

"Deuce  take  the  black  cat!"  sneered  Le  Gra- 
cieux,  laughing  in  the  dupe's  face. 

"This  is  a  plot!  Certainly,  Didier  and  Marion 
have  bribed  this  gang  of  mouthing  tragedians 
to  keep  them  perdu  in  the  herd!"  mused  Laffe- 
mas. "Oh,  these  accursed  spawn  of  Egypt  and 
Bohemia!  they  will  likewise  hold  their  silence. 
Here,"  he  cried  to  the  retreating  actor,  "restore 


380  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  purse  or  I  will  have  it  wrenched  from  you 
bvmv  soldiers!'' 

"Restore  a  purse!  for  what  do  you  take  me? 
What  would  the  world  of  fashion  say  of  a 
gentleman,  perhaps  a  law  lord,  who  takes  back 
a  gift!  one  who  carried  foreign  coin  and  palms 
them  off  upon  a  born  Frenchman!  for  what, 
forsooth!  to  buy  of  me  a  head  and  my  immortal 
soul!   out  on  it!   deed  infamous!" 

"That  is   roundly  spoken,"  said  the  judge, 
detaining  him  from  making  his  exit  into  the  ' 
barn,  "but  I  want  my  money  back!" 

"My  lord,  I  retain  it  as  a  salve  for  my 
wounded  honor!  and  I  am  not  calling  you  a 
host  with  whom  I  have  a  reckoning!" 

Upon  which,  the  clown,  making  a  whirl 
which  cast  the  dust  upon  his  victim,  dived 
within  the  barn,  slamming. the  large  door  be- 
hind him. 

"A  villainous  ballad-monger!"  yelped  Laffe- 
mas  at  his  heels  until  the  wooden  partition 
closed  between  them.  "The  idea  of  such  base 
characters  having  a  sense  of  pride!  If  I  were 
not  hunting  more  noble  game,  I  should  have 
the  whole  troupe  cast  into  bondage  and 
whipped  out  of  the  province  at  their  own  carts' 
tail!" 

He  made  the  tour  of  the  barn,  listening  to 
the  muffled  talk,  commonplace  yet  grandilo- 
quent, of  the  players,  with  a  laugh  at  Le  Glo- 
rieux'  no  doubt  displaying  his  windfall  and 
relating  his  adventure  in  his  own  way. 

"But  it  is  not  seemly  in  the  official  charged 
with  the  Police  of  the  kingdom  to  net  the 
whole  company  and  pass  them  one  by  one 
through  the  meshes  to  discover  the  pair  I 
want.  To  seek  a  needle  in  a  haystack  is  a 
trifle  to  this  puzzle!" 


OK,  KICHELIEU  DEFIED.  381 

Saving  passed  round  to  the  side  where  his 
soldiers  and  secretary  could  not  see  his  undig- 
nified act,  he  peered  in  at  a  crack. 

In  vain  to  distinguish  the  fleeing  couple  in 

the  dimly  lighted  contusion  of  players,  trying 
on  dresses,  cooking  supper,  spouting  what 
came  to  the  eavesdropper's  ears  as  gibberish — 
and  was  little  better! 

To  try  that  mass  for  the  fugitives  was  to 
seek  without  a  magician's  art,  in  the  crucible 
containing  alloys,  the  ingot  of  pure  gold  which 
might  swim  disengaged  amid  the  dross  in  fu- 
sion. 

On  the  other  hand,  how  could  he  return  to 
Paris,  as  his  first  essay  in  the  new  post,  empty 
handed?  How  ask  the  royal  confirmation  of 
his  appointment  -if  he  did  not  produce  the  of- 
fender against  the  King's  decree? 

As  he  was  turning  aside,  reluctant  to  give 
up  the  quest  like  a  fox  roaming  a  farmyard 
and  tantalized  by  the  fluttering  fowls,  and  as 
strongly  averse  to  asking  hospitality  of  the 
Lord  of  Nangis,  where  he  was  the  laughing- 
stock after  his  baptism,  he  had  an  idea  strike 
him. 

He  clapped  his  hand  to  his  forehead  and 
laughed  outright,  like  a  fiend  in  a  picture  of  the 
Last  Judgment  who  has  speared  a  celebrated 
sinner. 

"I  have  it!  I  have  my  Didier!"  he  murmured, 
feeling  the  loss  of  the  coin  no  more  in  his  rap- 
ture. 

Returning  to  the  door  of  the  barn,  he  opened 
it  widely  and,  with  authority,  shouted: 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Mondori  Company,  oblige 
me  with  a  little  attention!" 

With  which  prologue,  he  stepped  within  the 


382  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

place  and  assumed  as  noble  an  attitude  as  pos- 
sible upon  the  threshing-floor. 

All  but  Le  Gracieux  (who  thought  this  appar- 
ition betokened  an  attempt  to  recover  the 
purse,  and  he  plunged  into  a  heap  of  hay) 
quitted  their  occupation  and  hurried  around 
the  stranger. 

They  knew  by  instinct  and  unhappy  habit 
that  it  was  a  magistrate  and  from  the  manager 
downwards  feared  the  worst  issue. 

But  it  is  doing  them  the  justice  to  state,  with- 
out hesitation,  that  it  did  not  occur  to  any  one 
to  betray  the  fugitives,  on  whose  behalf  they 
sagely  concluded  that  the  intrusion  was  made. 
Through  the  open  doorway  was  seen  the  for- 
midable array  of  the  Cardinal's  guards,  and 
Secretary  Cheret  was  marshalling  them  as 
though  to  support  this  herald  in  his  errand. 

"What  is  your  will?"  said  Mondori,  with  his 
habitual  smile  chilled  on  his  fat  lips  by  the 
bearing  of  Laffemas,  which  his  assumed  affa- 
bility did  not  wholly  correct. 

"I  am  not  a  man  used  to  academic  phraseol- 
ogy," began  Ihe  judge,  making  a  salute  to  the 
ladies,  and  peering  all  around  to  discover  Mar- 
ion and  her  partner.  "The  matter  is  thus.  I  am 
an  officer  in  the  household  of  his  Eminence  the 
Cardinal-Duke  and  Prime  Minister!" 

This  diffused  an  awe  which  silenced  even  the 
baby  or  two  squalling  at  the  breast.  The  purse- 
snatcher  shook  under  his  odoriferous  covering 
so  that  the  mound  seemed  animated. 

"But  reassure  yourselves,"  went  on  the  en- 
voy, smiling  graciously,  "I  am  on  business 
which  delights  the  great  man's  leisure.  Known 
to  ye  all  as  patron  of  the  Fine  Arts,  as  witness 
his  establishment  of  the  Academy,  he  does  not 
disdain  to  use  some  idle  moments — granting 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  38 


•  i 


that  :i  Statesman  may  have  idle  moments — in 
preparing  plays  which  will  evince  another  side 
to  liis  genius  of  many  facets!  Yes,  gentlemen 
and  ladies  of  the  Thespian  art,  my  Lord  of 
Richelieu  regrets  thai  the  celebrated  troupe 
of  comedians  and  tragedians,  bearing  with  such 
lustre  the  golden  name  of  Mondori!"  he  bowed 
to  the  Italian  with  captivating  condescension, 
"should  have  left  the  capital  not  fully  appre- 
ciated. Amends  will  be  done  forthwith  for  this 
oversight!  1  am  charged  to  select  among  ye, 
or  comprise  the  entire  company  before  measl  he 
stock  force  for  the  theater  which  his  Eminence 
intends  to  open  immediately  upon  your  arrival 
and  study  of  his  tragedy  of  'Mirame,'  in  the 
hall  of  his  new  mansion!" 

To  be  sure,  the  man  in  the  haymow  groaned, 
but  the  others  had  but  one  voice  to  cheer  this 
speech.  The  ladies  blew  kisses — so  agreeable, 
after  their  fears,  ^as  this  turn  to  the  prospect, 
and  the  man  bowed  with  joyous  countenance. 

"It  is  a  ruse,  master,"  whispered  Le  Gra- 
cieux.  sneaking  out  of  his  covert  up  to  his  man- 
ager and  speaking  in  a  faint  aside,  "he  is  a 
cheat!  there  were  but  a  dozen  pieces  in  the 
purse  which  he  declared  to  contain  twenty!" 

"Hut,"  continued  Laffemas,  knowingly,  "the 
company  which  performs  to  applause  in  a  city 
oft  dwindles  down  to  a  poor  nucleus  when  wan- 
dering among  the  rustics.  I  beg  to  say  that, 
before  I  make  the  preparations  for  the  journey, 
at  my  lord's  charges,  I  should  propose  that 
each  of  you  shall  favor  me  with  a  specimen  of 
his  or  her  skill!  a  tag  of  a  part,  you  compre- 
hend?" 

"Of  course  we  comprehend/"  returned  Mon- 
dori, wreathed  in  gleeful  smiles,  as  well  his 
own  as  upon  the  broad  faces  of  those  surround- 


384     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

iiij;  him.  "I  said,  all  along  the  road,  that  good 
luck  would  attend  us  for  our  noble  act!  hem! 
Between  ourselves,  it  was  his  Grey  Eminence 
who  befriended  those  two  runagates — this 
speaker  is  but  an  intermediator,  depend  on  it ! 
The  Grey  Robe  wishes  to  have  his  two  wards 
conducted  to  Paris  without  fear  of  impedi- 
ments from  the  local  officers.  Oblige  this 
noodle  with  an  end  of  a  speech  and  let  us  to 
supper,  before  we  take  up  the  return  march  to 
Paris!  Ah,  these  rural  and  suburban  audiences 
are  all  very  well,  but  for  me,  give  me  the  con- 
noisseurs— the  cognoscenti   of  the  great  cities!" 

Singling  out  Marion  and  her  companion,  who 
had  remained  in  the  obscurity  against  the  wall, 
he  added  pleasantly: 

"How  happy  you  should  be  in  our  party!  You 
will  wear  brand-new  clothes,  be  sure  of  a  feast 
every  day,  and  have  no  greater  evil  to  endure 
than  recite  an  amateur  dramatist's  verses! 
How  happy  is  our  fate,  as  Ariadne  said  to  The- 
seus— I  suppose  it  would  be  Theseus?  in  the 
tragedv  of — of — never  mind — ours  is  a  happv 
fate!"* 

Marion  furtively  approached  Didier  on  fully 
recognising  the  pretended  messenger,  and 
strove  to  draw  him  towards  the  little  door  at 
the  side  of  the  barn.  But  he  had  folded  his 
arms  under  his  cloak,  and,  avoiding  her  sueing 
glance  by  down-turning  his  gaze,  kept  immobile 
as  a  statue.  The  poor  woman  trembled  with 
impatience  and  bewilderment  at  this  suicidal 
behavior  in  the  emergency,  while  the  glad  act- 
ors pushed  one  another  to  be  the  first  to  display 
their  qualifications. 

Regaining  his  impudence  at  the  fresh  aspect 
of  the  affair,  Le  Gracieux,  shaking  the  straws 
off  his  clothes  like  a  bird  preening  himself  of 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  385 

feathers,  had  the  impudence  to  come  forward 
and  declare  himself  in  the  eyes  of  his  startled 
dupe: 

"My  lord,  since  you  recruit  comedians  for  his 
Eminence  of  whose  literary  pretensions  I  have 
had  an  inkling,  through  my  friends  attached  to 
the  Gazette  de  France,  behold  Le  Gracieux,  the 
low  comedian  of  the  Troupe  Mondori!" 

In  a  falsetto  voice  he  chanted: 

"Id  ancient  fable,  you  have  read 
Of  horrors  thick  on  Gorgon's  head! 
For  grim  Medusa  here's  a  fig! 
My  terror  is  of  legal  wig! 
You'll  see  a  row  upon  the  Bench, 
Suggesting  gibbet,  torturer's  wrench, 
Handcuffs,  legbands,  and  eke  the  whip, 
Which  at  the  judge's  sentence  skip! 

"Oh,  that  a  brother-knave  should  shear 
The  manes  from  broken  jades  to  rear 
A  frightful  mop  upon  a  judge. 
To  make,  like  wisdom,  sound  his  fudge! 
When  Rhadamanthus  stops  his  jig. 
He'll  take  no  man,  but  just  a  wig!" 

Mondori  had  frowned  and  shaken  his  head 
furiously  at  the  carping  vocalist,  and  Laffemas, 
who  had  tried  more  than  once  to  check  his  re- 
viler,  at  last  screamed,  rather  than  spoke: 

"You  are  singing  so  badly  out  of  tune  that  it 
would  scare  an  osprey!  Be  quiet — enough!  and 
to  spare!" 

"]  admit  that  the  air  may  be  false,  but.  the 
sentiment  is  true!"  replied  the  incorrigible  jes 
ter. 

The  bad  example  was  catching,  for  the  "old 
man"  of  the  company  began  a  tirade  from  the 
Spanish  repertoire; 


386  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Hem:  Scene  from  'the  Duenna  of  Honor' — 
Hem! 

«  "jhe  fairest  sights  (hath  said  a  mighty  queen) 
Are — first:  a  knight  a-charging  o'er  the  green, 
A  bishop  at  the  altar  saying  mass, 
A  miser  starving  on  his  bed  stuffed  out  with 

brass — '  " 

"The  next,"  said  Laffemas;  "will  the  ones  I 
seek  never  come  forth?" 

The  "Tyrant"  vociferated  in  his  thunderous 
accents: 

"  'Behold  the  fierce  Taillebras,    from    Thibet 

come  to  tell 
How  I  struck  down  the  Mogul,  daring  to  rebel! 
And  the  Great  Cham—'  " 

"I've  the  mind  to  bid  you  go  back  there 
again!"  said  the  judge  rudely,  and  the  fe- 
rocious Stentor  drew  back,  scowling  hideously. 

His  hearer  had  not  noticed  his  ill-humor  for 
he  had  at  last  spied  Marion,  who  looked  lovely 
though  saddened  by  her  inability  to  induce 
Didier  to  resume  their  flight  or  even  regard  her 
piteous  appeal. 

"Peradventure,"  broke  in  the  Taillebras  up- 
on his  reverie,  taking  it  to  be  dumb  admira- 
tion, "you  would  prefer  me  in  a  more  patriotic 
part.  You  should  see  me  as  Charlemagne!" 
and  swinging  his  arms  like  a  windmill  and  de- 
claiming with  uncontainable  vehemence,  he  re- 
sumed : 

"  'How  odd  is  destiny!  Oh,  heavens!   hear  my 

plaint! 
My  cruel  plight  would  wring  a  groan  from  e'en 

a  saint! 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  387 

I  must  cast  off  my  mighty  sovereign  estate, 
And  to  another  yield  my  love  so  blithe  and 

great ! 

II  tilled  me  to  the  brim  with  joy  intense — 
Hut  now  embitters  with  a  ruefulness  immense! 
No  longer  are  the  doves  to  mate  within  the 

dells? 

No  longer  are  the  bees  to  cram  their  honey- 
cells? 

No  longer  are  the  sheep  to  wear  their  fleecy 
coats? 

And  from  your  nannies,  you  must  part,  you 
bncksome  goats!'  " 

Laffemas  had  his  eyes  half  closed,  watching 
the  unconscious  Marion.  Aroused  by  the  ap- 
plause from  his  brethren  at  this  outburst  for 
the  loud-lunged  tragedian,  the  auditor  clapped 
his  hands  and  exclaimed: 

"Lovely!  admirable!  That  is  Garnier's 
'Bradamante'  for  a  hundred  louis!  what  a  mas- 
sive poet !" 

•Shall  I  proceed?'' 

"No,  thank  you!"  Laffemas  hastened  to  say. 
Turning  to  Marion,  whom  he  pointedly  ad- 
dressed, he  pursued: 

"Let  us  have  a  change  of  voice!  the  sex,  the 
softer  sex!  Here  is  a  charming  lass!  What  is 
her  name,  manager?" 

"We  call  her  Ximena,  because  she  plays 
those  roles,"  said  Mondori,  leading  Marion  for- 
ward, and  whispering:  "Take  heart!  speak 
what  you  were  taught!  this  is  a  fine  chance 
to  get  free  transport  at  ion  to  town,  where  you 
will  meet  your  befriender!" 

Laffemas  gloated  on  the  shrinking  figure  be- 
fore him.  Never  had  he  dreamed  to  see  the 
blushing  one  so  pale;  the  arrogant  favorite  so 


388     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

humbled;  the  reckless  one  so  timid.  It  was  an 
alteration  which  caused  him  to  hope  that  he 
could  conquer  with  terror. 

"The  Ximena,  you  say?  Let  me  see:  in  that 
piece  vour  lover  slays  some  one  in  single  com- 
bat—'' 

"A  duel!"  cried  Marion,  alarmed  at  the  al- 
lusion. 

"Certainly!  I  have  a  good  memory — for 
plays,"  said  Laffemas,  jeeringly.  "The  lover 
takes  to  flight  and — but  tell  us  the  story  in 
mellifluous  numbers  which,  I  am  positive,  will 
be  increased  in  music  by  your  medium." 

The  woman  averted  her  sight  from  him  and 
glanced  towards  Didier,  who  remained 
shrouded  in  his  mantle,  and  in  a  tremulous 
voice  recited: 

"  'Since  my  appeal  to  houor  and  your  treas- 
ured life 

Stays  not  your  speeding  to  your  doom  with  hor- 
rors rife! 

If  e'er  you  recked  I  loved  you,  Rodrigo,  wrest — 

Oh,  wrest  me  from  Don  Sancho's  arms  and 
hateful  breast! 

Your  falchion  draw,  to  bar  me  from  a  course 
of  woe, 

If  I  could  to  my  greatest  loathing  ever  go! 

Impose  upon  me  silence  while  your  good  blade 
leaps 

To  prove  no  villain  safe  whom  mail  of  Malice 
keeps. 

If  yet  to  love  of  mine  your  own  as  lovingly  re- 
sponds, 

Then,  rise  a  victor  in  the  fight  which  breaks 
my  bonds!'" 

At  the  conclusion,  while  the  comedians  ap- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  389 

plauded,  spite  of  their  jealousy,  Laffemas 
sprang  forward,  for  she  was  fainting  from  the 
wrestling  of  emotions; — Didier  remained  so  un- 
accountably cold;  and  kissing  her  chill,  blood- 
less hand  with  exaggerated  gallantry,  he  de- 
clared her  adorable. 

"The  ladies  will  kindly  excuse  me,  but  I  do 
not  care  to  hear  any  other  voice  after  this  one, 
which  so  surely  plays  on  the  inmost  fibres  of 
the  heart." 

Releasing  her  hand  which  had  not  responded 
to  his  venturesome  pressure,  but  dropped  inerl 
while  she  turned  her  eyes  once  more,  without 
hope,  upon  the  motionless  Didier,  he  said  to 
Mondori,  to  try  to  prevent  his  interest  in  Mar- 
ion being  too  apparent: 

"That  is  Corneille,  the  new  dramatist,  and 
there  is  no  denying  that  he  falls  short  of  Gui- 
lder in  flow  of  cadence  and  sonorousness.  But 
he  will  improve — you  will  see,  sir,  that  Cor- 
neille will  improve,  for  the  Cardinal  takes  him 
in  hand  and,  being  a  playwright  himself,  the 
young  man  must  profit  by  his  suggestions! 
How  proud  I  shall  be  to  present  your  leading 
tragedienne  to  his  Eminence!  what  talent  if  in 
the  lachrymose  vein,  as  far  as  that  specimen 
verse  showed — what  magnificent  eyes,  though 
<lrowned  in  well-affected  tearfulness!  The 
shocking  idea  of  her  gifts  being  buried  in  the 
provincial  bushel !  I  take  you  all  under  my  pro- 
tection." 

He  looked  back  at  the  doorway,  blocked  up 
by  Cheret  and  the  arquebusier  captain,  behind 
whom  the  smoking  matches  of  his  followers' 
firearms  formed  a  cloud  most  ominous. 

"My  secretary  shall  get  you  a  chaise,  lady!'' 
continued  he.  advancing  as  Marion  retreated, 
for   the   reinforcement    had    encouraged   him. 


390  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"You  shall  have  all  the  honors  in  our  journey 
to  Paris." 

On  seeing  the  soldiers,  Marion  recoiled,  and 
being  close  to  her  companion,  whispered: 

"Didier,  rouse  thee  from  this  inexplicable 
apathy!  the  Cardinal's  guards  are  here!  be 
quick  and  bold,  and  you  may  yet  escape  by  the 
little  door  before  they  surround  the  barn!" 

But  the  arm  which  she  jostled  was  rigid  as 
though  turned  wholly  to  bone;  his  eyes  re- 
mained on  the  floor  and  he  did  not  show  by  a 
tremor  that  he  had  realised  their  predicament. 

Cheret  nodded  with  a  knowing  air. 

"I  had  anticipated  your  lordship's  desire," 
said  he,  "I  have  a  light  vehicle  at  the  park 
gateway!" 

"Signor  Mondori,  follow  with  your  troupe 
at  the  best  speed.  I  will  share  my  guards  with 
you,  though,  in  faith!  the  reduced  number  ill 
accords  with  the  state  necessarv  to  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Criminal — " 

"The  Lieutenant-Criminal!"  exclaimed  Mar- 
ion, shuddering  at  this  accession  of  power  to 
the  wretch  whom  she  had  already  dreaded. 
"Do  you  hear?  can  you  cope  with  this  mon- 
ster now  that  his  venom  is  redoubled?" 

"Come!"  said  Laffemas  victoriously,  augur- 
ing all  that  was  favorable  from  the  silence 
following  the  announcement  of  his  title. 

Didier  sprang  forward,  the  abrupt  movement 
astounding  from  the  quiescence  in  which  he 
had  so  long  rested.  He  overthrew  Mondori  and 
stood  before  Laffemas,  flaming  with  wrath. 

"She  shall  not  go,  but  I  will  come!"  cried 
he,  flinging  down  broad-brimmed  Spanish  hat 
and  voluminous  mantle.  "I  am  Didier,  the 
doomed!" 

To  those  of  the  theatrical  company  to  whom 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  391 

the  revelation  was  a  surprise,  it  was  a  momenl 
of  stupor. 

"Von  can  leave  these  poor  good-souls  in 
peace,"  said  the  self-made  prisoner,  "for  they 
were  unaware  of  my  identity.  You  have  your 
prey,  mocking  fiend  that  you  are!  I  resume  the 
chain.  Had  I  not  chafed  under  the  other — of 
roses — which  I  hasten  to  repudiate,  you  would 
not  have  taken  me  so  easily!" 

Indeed,  so  savage  was  his  bearing,  that  the 
Lieutenant-Criminal  recoiled  under  shield  of 
his  captain  while  Cheret  drew  back  without  the 
door. 

As  if  he  were  leading  the  way,  Didier  stalked 
out  of  the  building. 


392  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

THE  GRANDEUR  OF  A  WEAKLING. 

The  red  Arquebusiers'  invasion  had  been  re- 
garded sourly  by  the  castle  servants;  but  iSa- 
verny  had  his  private  reasons  for  not  inquiring 
too  narrowly  into  their  grounds  for  entering, 
to  intervene  prematurely. 

But,  on  seeing  Didier  walk  out  of  the  barn, 
accompanied  by  Laffemas,  and  immediately 
followed  by  Marion,  wringing  her  hands  and 
imploring  to  her  lover,  he  took  a  step  in  that 
direction,  whither  all  gaze  was  concentrated. 

He  saw  Marion,  frozen  in  the  heart  bv  a 
cruelly  cold  glance  from  Didier,  who  had  told 
her,  in  a  tone  to  correspond,  that  she  could  not 
divert  him  from  this  course. 

Saverny  waved  his  cane  for  the  household  at 
hand  to  come  with  him  and  hurried  to  the  spot. 

Recoiling,  with  a  hand  on  her  bosom,  Marion 
had  fallen  on  a  garden  seat  where  she  dwelt 
unnoticed,  save  by  the  ladies  of  the  theatrical 
company  who  sank  their  petty  rivalry  to  bear 
succor  to  her. 

As  the  marquis  approached,  he  heard  Laf- 
femas, failing  to  pretend  a  laugh,  hiss  to  his 
prisoner  with  condensed  ire: 

"So,  ho!  my  master,  you  are  not  playing  a 
farce  here?" 

"It  is  you  who  are  in  the  character  that  is 
laughed  at!"  was  the  young  gentleman's  re- 
joinder. 

"Oh,  I  play  funny  parts  badly,  I  admit!   My 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  393 

forte  is  in  more  serious  ones,  in  collaboration 
with  my  Lord  Cardinal!  In  our  tragedy  you 
are  cast  for  a  rule:    that  of  the  Victim!" 

Marion,  who  had  been  moaning,  must  have 
heard  this  sinister  threat  for  she  screamed  and 
half-arose. 

Didier  turned  from  her  and  from  the  tor- 
mentor with  the  like  disdain. 

Saverny  had  arrived,  and  at  his  heels  were 
sturdy  domestics,  who  had  prudently  caught 
up  canes,  Cudgels  and  tire-irons,  and  who,  at 
least,  outnumbered  the  soldiery.  This  is  say- 
ing nothing:  of  the  guests  for  the  funeral,  who 
looked  on  at  a  distance,  but  were  armed,  from 
the  insecurity  of  the  roads,  and  their  serving- 
men  were  also  supplied  with  weapons  of  a  re- 
doubtable nature. 

"Yes,  yes,"  said  the  Lieutenant-Criminal, 
with  a  low  taunting  humor  which  disgusted  the 
soldiers,  "you  may  well  wriggle  your  head  on 
your  shoulders  as  long  as  it  is  on  them  to  wag! 
Let  us  see  if  you  will  continue  still  to  act  your 
part  as  loftily!  Come  to  the  chapel  where  a 
priest  will  leave  the  corpse  to  help  you  prepare 
your  spirit  for  its  ascension!" 

"Ah!"  sighed  Marion,  rushing  forward 
through  the  group  of  actresses  and,  again  re- 
pulsed by  Didier  and  the  arquebusiers  wTho 
barred  her  approach  with  their  firelock  rests, 
she  turned  her  eyes  desperately  along  the 
earth  for  a  foreign  support. 

Promptly  informed  of  the  intrusion  by  an 
officious  valet,  the  old  Marquis  of  Xangis  is- 
sued from  the  castle,  accompanied  by  his  own 
guard  of  halberdiers. 

At  the  unite  appeal  of  Marion,  who  came 
tottering  towards  him  with  clasped  hands  and 
a  countenance  white  as  a  phantom's,  all  his 


394     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

gallantry  was  awakened.  He  had  been  a  boon- 
companion  of  the  late  King  in  his  amorous  ex- 
ploits and  the  call  of  beauty  in  distress  fired 
him. 

His  step  was  active,  his  form  straightened, 
and  he  drew  his  sword,  though  a  parade  one, 
with  a  flourish,  like  a  royal  champion. 

But  before  Marion  could  recover  voice  on  see- 
ing this  defender  draw  near,  Laffemas  glided 
between  with  a  smirk  and  a  long,  low  bow: 

"My  Lord  Marquis,"  said  he,  "I  claim  assist- 
ance in  the  name  of  the  King,  whose  Lieuten- 
ant-Criminal I  have  the  honor  to  be." 

"Lieutenant-Criminal!"  repeated  Saverny, 
stopping  short  in  drawing  his  sword  and  re- 
taining hold  of  his  cane. 

"The  mask  is  off!"  added  Brichanteau,  low- 
ering his  own  hand.    "The  fox  is  a  tiger-cat !" 

"My  lord,"  continued  the  high  officer  of  jus- 
tice, "the  assassin  of  poor  Marquis  Nazaire  had 
fled,  but  here  he  is — we  have  captured  him. 
you  see!" 

•'Nazaire's  murderer?"  said  the  marquis. 

"Who  broke  prison,  more  or  less  by  the  aid 
of  this  woman!"  proceeded  Laffemas,  looking 
down  with  a  blending  of  admiration,  hatred 
and  adoration  thrilling  to  see,  at  Marion  who, 
seeing  that  the  Lord  of  Nangis  had  been  para- 
lysed in  his  offer  to  rescue  by  the  announce- 
ment of  the  title,  cast  herself  on  her  knees  to 
the  arbiter  of  this  issue. 

"Show  mercy  to  him  as  you  expect  mercy 
from  above!"  she  said  in  a  lamentable  voice. 

"She,  at  his  feet!"  cried  Brichanteau,  furious- 

"You  are  right,  sir!  T  ought  to  be  at  hers!" 
responded  the  judge  with  his  labored  gal- 
Ian  try. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  395 

"Remember  thai  there  is  a  Judge  above  who 
may  be  pitiless  i<>  you  if  you  harden  your  hearl 
to  me  now!"  she  pursued. 

"Marion  in  the  dust!  the  world  is  reversed," 
muttered  Saverny.  "But  how  she  loves  thai 
man!  to  humble  herself  like  this,  to  that  cai- 
tiff— how  she  loves  him,  as  never  a  man  be- 
fore!" 

Laffemas  had  replied  to  the  pious  appeal  by 
a  contemptuous  gesture;  at  the  same  moment, 
the  priest  in  the  chapel  entoned  the  Psalm: 
"Dixit  insipiens — the  fool  has  said  there  is  no 
God!" 

Several  of  the  country  lords  crossed  them- 
selves, but  the  Lieutenant  laughed  harshly. 

"Of  a  verity,  it  is  a  fine  sermon  you  preach, 
lady  fair!  the  more  remarkable  as  a  sermon  is 
not  what  we  are  accustomed  to  hear  from 
those  ruby  lips!  But  cease  to  preach,  and  re- 
turn you  to  your  realm,  queen  of  fashion  and 
social  charms!  reign  over  the  balls,  the  dainty 
suppers  and  the  festivals!  For  you,  what 
would  not  I — any  gentleman,  do? — but  the 
King's  proclamation.  Laws-a-mercy!  the  fellow 
killed  a  noble  in  a  duel  against  the  express 
prohibition — he  is  an  outlaw  and  I  might  have 
him  strung  up  to  the  next  tree!" 

A  sli udder  of  horror  ran  through  the  two 
opposing  ranks. 

"I  never  believed  in  the  wehr-wolf  till  now." 
said  Mondori,  reckless  if  he  were  overheard, 
"but  this  monster  is  no  human  being,  albeit 
he  appeareth  and  discourseth  in  broad  day!" 

"Give  the  word,"  said  Brichanteau  to  Xan<,ris. 
"give  me  the  word,  uncle,  and,  though  1  incur 
the  gallows  myself.  1  will  lead  on  our  friends 
and  hirelings  to  rescue  thai  gentleman!" 

"Marie."    said    Didier,    participating  in   the 


396  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

general  disgust,  ''rise!  do  not  sue  to  that  thing 
of  wig  and  sables!" 

Trembling  in  every  limb,  the  poor  woman 
stood  up. 

"Liar!"  said  Didier  to  Laffemas  who  receded 
at  his  outburst,  "it  was  not  a  murder — it  was  a 
fair  duel." 

"I  was  a  witness  to  that  fairness!"  said  Bri- 
chanteau.  "Captain,"  continued  he  to  the 
arquebusier,  "let  the  gallant  fellow  have  a 
deer's  law — let  him  run — give  him  a  chance  to 
escape  or  at  least  to  die  shot — like  a  gentle- 
man!" 

"Peace!"  said  Laffemas  angrily.  "Do  you 
allow  rebellion  to  be  counselled  in  the  King's 
domain?"  he  asked  Nangis,  who  had  become 
palsied  and  irresolute  after  his  first  spell  of 
excitement.  "It  is  written  that  blood  calls  for 
blood!  I  am  afflicted  by  such  rigor,  but  it  is 
down  in  the  law-books,  so!  He  slew  a  man — 
a  noble — the  young  Marquis  of  Saverny,  and  it 
is  not  here,  where  his  body  passed  over  the 
ground,  and  haply  sprinkled  it  with  his  pre- 
cious blood,  that  leniency  should  be  advised 
or  practised!  Gentlemen,"  proceeded  he,  tak- 
ing the  increasing  assemblage  into  his  confi- 
dence with  flippancy  which  jarred  on  all  ears, 
"he  slew  the  nephew  of  this  worthy  old  hero! 
a  perfect  young  gentleman!  If  he  had  not  been 
done  to  death,  as  my  heart  is  not  rock,  I — I — " 

"He  whom  all  believe  dead,"  said  Saverny 
advancing  up  to  the  speaker  who  thought  he 
was  about  to  cuff  him,  and  stood  on  guard,  "is 
not  dead  in  the  slightest,  thank  St.  Nazaire!" 

He  plucked  off  the  false  mustaches  and 
chin-beard  which  came  away  together,  and  re- 
moved hat  and  sham  scar  with  the  wig. 

All  the  people  of  the  neighborhood  and  ens- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  397 

tie  applauded,  as  at  a  miracle,  the  re-appear 
ance  of  the  young  heir  to  Nangis. 

"Nazaire  de  Saverny!"  exclaimed  Laffemas, 

in  the  midst  of  the  general  amaze,  "but — but 
— unless  this  is  a  prodigy!  is  not  his  bier  yon- 
der — are  not  the  clergy  chanting  the  prayers 
over — ■" 

"Over  an  empty  shell!"  said  Brichanteau. 
"It  was  a  deception  to  baffle  your  bandogs! 
He  is  alive.  Do  vou  not  know  your  own, 
uncle?" 

Like  one  aroused  from  a  bad  dream,  glad 
that  Hie  terror  had  vanished,  Nangis  rushed 
forward  and  sank  into  Saverny's  arms,  mum- 
bling: 

'•(iod  be  praised!  my  nephew — my  dear  Na- 
zaire!  my  beloved  heir!" 

While  they  were  embracing  strenuously  and 
affectionately,  Marion  dropped  on  her  knees, 
with  her  face  turned  this  time  towards  the 
cross  on  the  chapel  roof,  thanking  a  just  heaven 
that  her  beloved  was  saved. 

Didier  bowed  to  Saverny  and  said  with  ap- 
palling coldness: 

"Why  have  you  returned  when  I  wished  to 
be  where  vou  were  thought  to-be?  I  wished 
to  die!" 

"God  forbid!"  cried  Marion;  "whv  does  he 
wisli  to  die?" 

"You  have  done  me  a  poor  kindness,  my 
lord,  to  make  me  owe  life  to  vou,"  resumed  the 
prisoner,  to  the  surprise  of  Laffemas;  "do  you 
believe,  otherwise,  that  I  would  have  let  this 
spider  catch  me  in  his  web — not  fly  that  I 
might  be  but  a  wasp  that — you  know — stings 
sharply.  Bah!  death  is  the  sole  thing  for 
which  I  have  a  desire!" 

"What    does    he   say?"    interposed    Marion. 


398     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Nay,  nay,  grace  having  fallen  from  the  skies, 
you  will  live  on!" 

"Stop,  stop!"  said  the  Lieutenant,  ''all  is  not 
over!  Is  it  a  fact  that  we  see  before  us  the 
Marquis  de  Saverny?" 

"He  is  crazy!  why,  gentlemen,  he  knew  the 
lord  at  Paris!"  said  Brichanteau. 

"Is  this  really  the  young  lord?"  persisted 
Laffemas. 

"Look  at  the  old  nobleman  who  smiles 
through  his  grief!"  said  Marion,  with  a  sad 
triumph.  "Can  you  doubt  the  truth  while  be- 
holding this  happy  reunion?" 

"Is  this  he?"  stammered  the  old  lord,  "is 
it  my  son,  my  nephew,  my  heir — my  dear  Na- 
zaire!  my  soul — my  own  flesh-and-blood?  as 
well  deny  the  goodness  of  the  All-merciful! 
Did  the  lady  ask  if  this  were  my  nephew?" 

"My  lord,  do  you  in  so  many  words  affirm 
that  this  is  your  nephew  the  Marquis  Nazaire 
de  Saverny?"  obstinately  repeated  the  Cardi- 
nal's protege. 

"Indeed,  it  is!"  responded  Nangis  with  force. 

"After  this  avowal,"  said  Laffemas,  unable 
to  repress  his  exultation,  "in  the  King's  name,  I 
arrest  you,  Lord  Saverny!  hand  me  your 
sword!" 

"Oh,  my  poor  boy!"  gasped  the  marquis  to 
whom  such  a  succession  of  strong  emotions  was 
rending. 

"Heaven  have  pity!"  ejaculated  Marion,  al- 
most as  much  bewildered. 

"Ha!"  said  Didier,  "you  take  still  another 
head!  You  will  justify  your  sanguinary  of- 
fice, sir,  by  returning  to  this  Roman  Cardinal 
of  yours  with  a  head  in  each  hand!" 

"By  what  right  do  you  arrest  my  nephew?" 


OK,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  399 

said  Nangis,  and  Briehanteau  urged  him  to  the 
front  to  challenge  the  act. 

"Ask  the  Prime  Minister  for  a  reckoning," 
was  Laffemas'  reply.  "Under  the  ordinance, 
all  survivors  of  a  duel  merit  death  bv  tin- 
halter!" 

He  held  out  his  hand,  with  working,  clutch- 
ing lingers  for  the  sword  demanded  of  Sa veiny. 

"Yon  were  a  fool  to  disclose  yourself!"  com- 
mented Didier. 

Saverny  hesitated,  but  at  a  sign  from  Laffe- 
mas the  arquebusier  officer  came  to  take  the 
weapon  bjT  force,  and  he  drew  the  blade. 

"Take  it,"  said  he,  as  if  transferring  to  a 
dupe  a  snake  in  torpor  which  might  thaw  and 
sting. 

"Stay!"  interrupted  Nangis  with  renewed 
vigor,  his  white  hairs  seeming  to  bristle  on  his 
brow  and  his  eyes  animated  with  pristine  fire. 
"No  one  is  lord  on  this  estate  save  Guillaume 
de  Nangis!  Sole  and  alone,  I  have  the  right 
to  administer  all  kinds  of  justice  in  this  castle! 
Here,  our  Sire  the  King  would  be  merely  my 
guest,  mark  you!  To  none  but  me  hand  your 
sword,"  concluded  he  to  his  nephew. 

Saverny  gladly  drew  back  his  sword  for 
which  Laffemas  was  leaning  forward,  and 
passed  it  to  Nangis  who  gestured  for  his  valet 
to  take  it. 

A  low  murmur  of  gratification  ran  round  the 
ranks  of  the  spectators  on  seeing  the  judge's 
discomfiture. 

"On  mine  honor,"  said  Laffemas,  feeling  that 
the  voices  were  counter  to  him  and  that  Iiis 
powers  might  not  suffice  in  the  confined  place 
where  all  was  hostile  to  him.  "your  claim  is 
based  on  a  very  dilapidated  feudal  right,  my 
lord,  but  I  do  not  care  to  afflict  you!     Let  the 


400  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Cardinal  blame  me,"  he  added  with  a  confident 
smile  which  alone  would  have  denoted  that  he 
believed  himself  strong  by  private  reasons  to 
obtain  his  master's  indulgence,  "but  I — " 

"You  are  an  infamous  scoundrel,''  said  Did- 
ier;  "act  as  you  will!" 

"I  submit,"  went  on  the  Lieutenant-Criminal. 
"Put  out  your  matches,"  he  said  to  his  guards, 
"vou  are  among  friends!  All  I  ask  of  vour 
lordship  is  a  stronghold  where  I  may  detain 
the  prisoners  until  we  hear  from  Paris?" 

"Your  fathers,"  said  the  Lord  of  Nangis 
proudly  to  those  about  him,  "were  vassals  of 
mine — I  forbid  you  to  help  this  officer." 

"Ha!  do  vou  take  it  thus!"  cried  Laffemas 
in  a  loud  voice,  assuming  as  much  dignity  as 
possible;  "then,  lords,  squires  and  serving- 
men,  listen  to  me!  I  am  Lord  Lieutenant  of 
the  Criminal  Police!  a  judge  wherever  I  sit! 
The  agent  of  the  Prime  Minister,  my  Lord 
Cardinal-Duke!  I  order  that  those  two  culprits 
shall  be  conducted  to  safe  ward!  The  castle 
warders  may  double  my  own  watch,  but  you 
will  answer  over  all,  since  this  is  Nangis  Cas- 
tle and  not  the  King's  fort.  It  will  be  a  rash 
and  eke  a  bold  man  who  traverses  my  com- 
mand, for  if,  when  I  bid  one  of  ye  go  here  or 
there  and  do  as  told,  he  so  much  as  wavers — 
then,  his  head  is  at  stake — and  on  the  stake 
within  the  hour!" 

Daunted,  for  the  might  of  the  great  Minister 
was  talked  of  in  the  remotest  province,  remem- 
bering that  by  exceptional  favor  alone  Nangis 
Castle  had  not  been  demolished,  the  castle 
guards  paired  off  with  the  arquebusiers,  and 
their  officer  arranged  for  the  incarceration  of 
the  two  c;i] (fives. 

"All  is  lost !"  moaned  Marion.    "Oh,  lord,  if 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  401 

you  had  a  heart,"  she  began  to  Laffemaa  as 
Didier  was  led  away  without  a  glance  for  her. 

"When  you  come  to  me,"  responded  the 
judge  in  a  low  lone,  "1  will  tell  you  what  is  in 
the  heart,  which  you  doubt,  affecting  you!" 

The  woman  trembled;  in  that  shadowy  soul 
were  depths  out  of  which  might  come  light- 
nings terrible  to  contemplate  and  more  terri- 
ble in  their  effects. 

But  her  mind  revolted  to  her  beloved  one, 
who  had  left  her  and  now  disappeared  under 
the  castle  portcullis,  without  a  glance  of  fare- 
well at  that  supreme  moment. 

Saverny  took  it  all  less  seriously. 

Brichanteau  accompanied  him  to  his  prison 
cell,  which,  however,  was  being  furnished  to 
make  him  at  ease. 

"I  daresay,"  said  he  jestingly,  "the  fellow 
will  receive  double  payment  for  two  heads!" 

Enrapt  in  his  business,  unaware  of  what  had 
happened,  the  undertaker  threaded  his  way 
through  the  crowd  breaking  up,  balked  of  the 
funeral  and  full  of  intelligence  to  bear  home- 
ward. 

"Will  no  one  tell  me,''  faltered  he,  looking  in 
all  quarters,  "what  hour  of  what  day  is  fixed 
for  the  burial  of  the  late  Marquis  of  Saverny?" 

"Man  from  the  tomb,"  replied  Laffemas  with 
an  indecent  laugh,  "return  in  a  month  for  the 
answer!" 


402  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  COUNTERPLOT. 

Laffemas  waited  vainly  for  the  suggested 
visit  of  Mademoiselle  Delorme. 

To  kill  the  time,  he  went  over  the  day's 
events  and  those  leading  up  to  it  with  Cheret, 
who  clung  to  his  fortunes  and  hoped  that  be- 
hind this  bulwark  he  might  defy  Father  Joseph 
whom  he  detested  for  having  discharged  him. 

The  new  Chief  of  Police  was  in  an  execrable 
ill-humor  as  the  minutes  dragged  and  the 
castle  clock  marked  the  quarters. 

"While  we  are  detained  here,"  said  he  sud- 
denly, looking  up  from  an  easy  chair  in  the 
rooms  which  the  new  steward  had  found  for 
him,  with  terror  if  not  with  zeal,  ''that  demon 
of  a  Capuchin  will  have  sped  to  the  ear  of  the 
Cardinal  and  we  shall  be  undermined!'' 

"Richelieu  loves  bloodshed — he  will  not  re- 
scind the  sentence — " 

But  his  collocutor  dreaded  all  that  the  Grey 
Robe  might  cover.  He  was  still  sure  that  his 
pseudo  grandam  had  not  revealed  anything  in- 
criminating him — but  all  his  wariness  might 
yet  have  failed:  a  clue  might  point  to  him  as 
her  destrover. 

"I  will  go  to  Paris,"  said  he,  "leaving  you  to 
watch  that  this  Didier  does  net  again  escape." 

He  paced  the  room,  flapping  a  sheet  of  pa- 
per, and  reminding  the  secretary  of  a  tiger  lash- 
ing himself  with  his  tail,  in  sullen  fury. 

He  listened  at  the  door  but,  as  by  tacit  agree- 
ment, that  part  of  the  castle  set  aside  to  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  \0:\ 

usurping  Lieutenant   was  as  though  under  a 

ban. 

<  'herel  spoke  in  a  soft  voice  in  the  silence  un- 
der which  his  employer  chafed. 

"You  asked  me  at  what  Father  Joseph  was 
aiming?" 

"Did  I?  when?"  said  the  judge  distractedly. 

"It  is  your  thought.  I  read  thoughts  of  my 
superiors.     It  saves  time  to  anticipate." 

"Well,"  returned  Laffemas,  with  affected 
resignation,  seating  himself,  with  a  sigh  from 
a  heated  bosom.  "At  what  is  the  arch-plotter 
aiming,  pray?" 

"My  lord,  I  am  confidant  that  Father  Carre, 
in  his  too  frequent  journeys  to  Rome,  carried 
correspondence  for  the  Grey  Robe  as  well  as 
for  the  Red  One!" 

"What  does  the  restless  monk  require  since 
doubtless  he  has  the  hat?" 

"For  one  thing,  he  espouses  the  candidature 
of  the  Bishop  of  Autun  instead  of  him  of  Aries 
and.  your  lordship  will  see,  Autun  will  have 
the  next  cardinal  ship." 

"It  is  indifferent  to  me!" 

"But  why  does  he  scheme  for  this  advance- 
ment?" 

"I  do  not  even  try  to  guess." 

"Because  it  conciliates  the  numerous  Italian 
relatives  of  his  Grace  of  Autun.  Father  Jo- 
seph is  plotting  for  reign  on  a  loftier  throne 
than  that  of  France — " 

"Would  Richelieu  be  Pope?"  exclaimed  Laf- 
femas, with  joy,  seeing  a  new  career  for  him  in 
Rome,  where  a  man  of  his  qualities  as  bravo 
and  sbirro  might  expect  a  fortune. 

Cheret  shook  his  head,  vexed  at  having 
kindled  a  hope  where  he  had  expected  to  ex- 
cite dismay. 


404  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"The  gout  nails  him  to  France;'  was  his  re- 
ply. "It  is  Father  Joseph  who  has  the  aspi- 
ration." 

"Impossible!" 

"Ah,  you  little  value  Joseph  du  Tremblay," 
said  the  secretary  with  admiration  wrung  from 
him.  "Look  at  his  position:  his  brother,  as 
Governor  of  the  Bastile,  controls  the  liberties 
of  half  the  nobles  and  all  Parisians  under  its 
guns.  He  himself  rather  commands  the  army 
of  Cardinalistic  spies  than  his  master;  it  is  he 
through  whom  all  secrets  filter — and  God  only 
knows  how  clearly  he  lets  them  soak  through! 
private  and  political,  he  knows  all  the  secrets 
of  all  Frenchmen,  high  and  low!  Often  has  he 
astonished  the  wisest  by  his  wide  familiarity 
to  the  minutest  detail  with  some  scandal  be- 
lieved inscrutably  veiled  in  the  past!  The 
King  dreads  him,  Prince  Gaston  starts  at  his 
name,  the  Court  bow  to  him  with  awe  and 
even  the  caustic  Langely  forbears  to  spew  his 
venom  upon  him." 

"Hist!" 

"I  heard  nothing!" 

"No,  it  is  the  rising  wind  in  the  tapestry. 
An  owlet  fluttering  by.  Father  Joseph,  Pope! 
I  confess  I  cannot  see  that." 

"Live  to  see  that,  my  lord,  and  you  will  per- 
chance be  lying  in  the  dungeon  awaiting  death, 
like  those  two  young  gentlemen. " 

Cheret  spoke  very  calmly  but  with  earnest- 
ness impressing  Laffemas,  who  ceased  to  listen 
at  the  door. 

"Does  he  hate  me  so?" 

"Certes!  Who  but  you  ever  came  between 
him  and  the  Duke  who  was  his  pupil,  and  for 
whom  he  has  a  jealous  love?" 

"That  is  true!     I  believe  I  am  the  only  per- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  105 

son  to   whom    a    private    audience    li:is   been 
given,    while  the   Cardinal's  Chief   Confessor 

w;is  kept  at  the  door;'  said  the  officer  of  jus- 
tice, with  pride. 

Ten  o'clock   struck. 

"Ton!"  said  Laffemas,  disgusted.  "She  will 
not  come!" 

"Hark:"  said  the  secretary,  rising. 

"It  is — no,  a  man's  heavy  step — with  spurs 
on!"  said  the  other,  sinking  back  in  his  chair, 
disappointed. 

The  arquebusier  captain  entered,  with  a  kind 
of  contempt  for  the  two  men  of  the  quill,  whose 
orders  ho  was  compelled  to  receive.  Hut  he 
qualified  his  submission  by  spiteful  inuendoes. 

His  deep-lined  features  were  twisted  into  a 
smile  which  he  did  not  care  to  mask. 

"Another  escape!"  ejaculated  Laffemas, 
bounding  forward,  not  ignorant  of  this  officer's 
contrary  humor. 

"My  prisoners?  Xo,  my  lord — I  am  not  like 
those  sleepy  warders  at  Blois — I  do  not  let 
my  wards  escape." 

"But  some  bird  has  flown?" 

"You  are  right!  The  master  of  the  castle 
has  set  out  for  Paris — " 

"The  Marquis  of  Nangis  travels,  at  his  age?" 

"Yes,  my  lord;  but  he  will  not  need  to  go 
so  far!     The  King  is  at  Chambord!" 

"The  King!     He  seeks  the  King?" 

"Who  comes,  via  Chambord,  to  see  the  dou- 
ble execution  at  Blois T  Cheret  hastened  to 
suggest. 

•1  do  not  know  what  he  is  there  for,  but 
my  orderly  rode  over  country  with  the  news 
for  me.  On  the  road  he  mot  the  old  marquis 
hurrying,  no  doubt,   to  procure  his  nephew's 


406  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

pardon  of  the  King,  and  who  do  you  think  was 
in  the  old  coach  with  hini?" 

This  was  evidently  the  bolt  which  the  irate 
captain  withheld  to  do  the  most  hurt. 

"Marion!"  cried  Laffemas,  reading  truly  how 
much  the  man  meant  to  wound  him  and  how 
surely  he  had  gauged  the  injury. 

"Mdlle.  Delorme  was  with  the  ancient  spark! 
She  goes  to  plead  for  her  gallant,  as  the  noble- 
man for  his  relative  and  heir." 

Laffemas  and  Cheret  looked  at  each  other, 
disconcerted. 

''Any  orders?"  said  the  captain,  as  if  that  was 
all  that  had  brought  him. 

"I  will  act  on  my  previous  inspiration,"  said 
the  judge  to  his  confidant.  "I  will  go  to  Cham- 
bord  or  the  city  to  contravene  this  double 
machination!  Yes,  captain,  an  escort  and  a 
light  carriage,  if  such  a  one  is  procurable!  If 
not,"  with  a  grimace,  "I  must  take  to  the  sad- 
dle." 

While  the  officer  went  to  fulfil  the  com- 
mand, Laffemas  instructed  his  secretary  to 
keep  supervision  over  the  two  captives. 

"You  are  sure  that  Joseph  intends  to  pro- 
cure the  election  to  the  Pontificate?"  he  de- 
manded, frowning. 

"That  much  I  worked  out  from  the  fragment 
of  the  cipher  correspondence  which  Carre 
bore." 

"Then,  let  him  beware  how  he  thrusts  bars 
in  my  wheels!  The  Italians  are  vengeful — 
they  are  determined  that  a  foreigner  shall 
never  rule  in  the  States  of  the  Church !  Father 
Joseph,  or  his  French  nominee,  is  doomed!" 

In  an  hour,  he  was  seated  in  a  comparatively 
light  vehicle  which  rolled  over  the  rugged  road, 
surrounded  by  the  arquebusiers,  delighted  to 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  407 

be  on  the  return  and  bewailing  the  sad  fate 
of  their  comrades  remaining  to  supplement  the 
castle  guard  over  the  two  duellists. 

In  the  meanwhile,  Lord  Nangis,  accompanied 
by  .Marion,  as  stated,  was  well  on  the  same 
way. 

The  old  noble  seemed  given  a  new  life  by 
the  inevitable  choice  of  his  personal  interme- 
diation with  the  Crown  to  save  his  nephew. 
On  his  way  to  the  stable  to  see  to  the  prepa- 
ration of  a  carriage,  co-eval  with  the  litters 
with  which  Catherine  de  Medicis  travelled  to 
Paris,  he  passed  Marion,  and  the  sight  of  her 
sorrowful  face  doubled  his  own  wroe. 

The  same  grief  made  a  man  of  him,  without 
the  trappings  of  aristocracy.  He  went  to  her, 
took  her  hand  and  said,  in  his  low  voice: 

'•Come  with  me,  since  your  mission  is  like 
mine — to  sue  for  a  young  life!  both  may  be  use- 
ful to  our  country  in  the  troublous  times  which 
I  foresee  when  such  rulers  guide  France!  a 
priest  and  a  force  of  spies!  Cease  to  weep, 
lady!  The  King,  to  whom  I  haste,  will  grant 
pardon!  It  is  a  right  of  his  position,  and  a 
duty  of  his  race  toward  a  Nangis.  Be  tranquil, 
sore  heart!  In  his  blood,  as  in  name,  he  is 
the  true  son  of  Henry  the  Fourth,  I  avouch!" 

Marion  smiled  slightly  through  her  gloom. 
She  knew  Louis  XIII.  better  than  this  old  cour- 
tier, long  absent  from  the  court. 

"You  were  companion  of  his  sire?"  said  she, 
not  to  speak  her  thought,  which  was  adverse 
to  the  enthusiasm  making  this  white-headed 
man  juvenile. 

"For  his  father,  indeed,  I  wore  out  many  an 
iron  coat  as  the  nephew  whom  r  seek  to  save 
wears  out  satin  doublets  for  the  son!  I  assure 
von.  lady,  that  I  will  have  merely  to  show  him 


408  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

my  frosty  pow,  and  plead  to  him  in  the  name 
of  his  father's  patron:  'St.  Ch-is!'  and  he  will 
annul  the  sentence — forgive  the  little  harm — 
since  no  one  was  slain — and  reinstate  my  neph- 
ew in  his  favor." 

"Richelieu — "  began  Marion. 

"Let  Richelieu  find  a  saint  more  potent  to 
oppose  to  his  King's  father's!" 

On  the  road,  at  a  turning,  a  lugubrious  song, 
but  a  little  heightened  by  a  slight  tone  of  tri- 
umph, seemed  to  hail  the  equipage. 

"A  psalm!"  said  the  marquis,  leaning  out  of 
the  small  glass  window,  "ill  omen!" 

"The  priests,  my  lord,"  said  the  coachman, 
controlling  his  four  horses  which  the  chant 
had  startled,  as  well  as  had  a  lantern  on  a  pole 
amid  a  small  group  of  men  in  white  and  black. 
"They  were  disappointed  of  singing  their  bal- 
lads over  the  young  lord,  so  they  vent  them 
on  the  bats  and  hedge-sparrows!" 

"Quid  gloriarisf  repeated  Marion.  "My 
lord,  as  you  knew  Queen  Marguerite  of  Na- 
varre, and  she  spoke  Latin  better  than  I  fear 
me  I  speak  French,  pray  interpret — what  is 
the  meaning  of  that  psalm?" 

Nangis  was  indeed  one  of  the  bevy  of  sparks 
and  beauties  who  surrounded  the  author  of  the 
"Heptameron."  He  smiled  at  the  reminiscence 
and  answered  with  lightness: 

"I  was  wrong!  This  is  rather  of  good  omen! 
That  is  the  utterance  of  King  David,  denounc- 
ing the  tyrants  who  boast  of  doing  injustice! 
promising  them  death  and  destruction,  and  to 
those  who  trust  in  the  Lord  tender  mercy! 
Lady,  we  are  on  the  true  road!" 

Toward  morning,  the  strength  of  the  old  man 
giving  out  and  forcing  them  to  stop  at  an  inn, 
they   were  gratified   with  the  tidings,  by  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  L09 

post  rider,  thai  the  King,  us  though  to  meet 
them,  had  left  the  town  palace  and  was  al 
<  Ihambord. 

Nangis  \\as  glad,  all  the  more  as  he  heard 
that  the  noble  in  charge  of  the  transfer  was  an 
old  companion-in-arms,  the  Duke  of  Pellegarde. 

"Our  suit  is  won !"  said  lie,  rising  in  the  morn- 
ing with  renewed  nvacity  and  insisting  on 
Marion  taking  breakfast  with  him. 

He  was  very  dull  for  it  was  foggy,  and 
threatened  rain. 

It  is  true  that  she  had  the  tact,  ingenious  in 
charm  as  she  was,  not  to  talk  of  her  lover  but 
of  the  Marquis  of  Saverny,  whose  adventur*  a 
in  Paris  she  detailed  with  such  art  that  tic- 
fond  dotard  began  to  believe  that  his  heir 
would  be  a  loss  not  sheerlv  to  France,  but  to 
Europe!  All  that  Laffemas  had  plastered  with 
praise,  was  richly  gilded  and  burnished. 

They  resumed  their  drive,  cheerful,  like  fath- 
er and  adopted  daughter. 

The  servants,  who  were  numerous,  partici- 
pated in  the  old  lord's  gaiety,  and  the  coach- 
man so  tickled  his  horses  that  they  bounded 
along  with  vigor  like  that  in  the  Court  of  tin- 
White  Horse,  in  other  words,  the  bronze  of 
Marcus  Au reikis,  cast  in  Rome  and  adorning 
Paris,  at  this  epoch. 

In  this  same  mood,  unlike  that  befitting 
those  on  the  thorns  concerning  the  fate  of  the 
heir  to  Nangis  and  the  companion  in  his  mis- 
ery— heir  to  Suffering,  the  party  of  solicitors 
arrived  at  the  palace  of  Prince  Gaston. 

The  latter  had  fled,  to  use  the  right  word, 
on  hearing  that  his  brother  was  coming  to 
Blois,  and  had  offered  his  chateau  to  cover  this 
flight. 

Always  conspiring,  as  more  than  once  has 


410  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

been  said,  he    detested  being    questioned,  al- 
though to  lie  artfully  was  his  second  nature. 

Xangis  had  not  been  misinformed:  his  friend 
the  Duke  of  Bellegarde,  was  the  Grand  Master 
of  the  Ceremonies.  As  a  familiar  of  Gaston, 
he  knew  the  castle  perfectly,  and  he  strove  by 
his  deference  and  celerity  in  removing  ob- 
stacles to  his  royal  master's  repose,  to  efface 
the  charge  of  his  having  sought  to  dethrone 
him  in  his  brother's  favor. 

The  marquis,  who  had  ever  on  his  mind 
the  sordid  and  modest  attire  of  the  companions 
of  the  ever-poor  King  of  Navarre,  was  stupe- 
fied by  the  splendor  of  the  Guard  Hall,  where 
Bellegarde  was  marshalling  the  servants  and 
welcoming  the  country  gentlemen,  hastening  to 
pay  their  respects  to  the  new  comer,  all  the 
more  readily  as  they,  like  the  duke,  wished  not 
to  be  confounded  with  the  latest  plot  of  the 
Lord  of  Orleans. 

They  bowed  curiously  but  respectfully  to  the 
old  noble  on  learning  that  he  was  Saverny's 
uncle,  hero  of  the  now  historical  duel. 

But  the  marquis  gazed  with  dazed  eyes  on 
the  scene:  the  large  hall  was  crowded  with 
the  courtiers  and  officers  of  the  household — 
At  the  door  stood  the  musketeers,  with  their 
guns  on  their  shoulders;  in  the  lobbies  pa- 
trolled the  Hundred  Swiss  Guards — Richelieu 
not  having  yet  obliterated  all  the  foreigners; 
glorious  in  their  Velasquez-like  uniform,  their 
doublets  heavy  with  old  gold,  their  breeches 
red,  their  stockings  in  several  clashing  hues, 
and  their  long  swords  replaced  within  doors  by 
gold-headed  canes;  officers  of  the  escort — an 
army!  threaded  the  throng,  light-guardsmen, 
the  Queen's  guards,  the  Cardinal's,  the  French, 
the  Swiss  Reds,  the  Outer-guards;  haughtily. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  411 

the  Gentlemen  A  Bec-de-Corbin,  so  called  from 
their  peculiarly  headed  slicks  of  office,  paraded 
in  heavily  laced  breeches  over  scarlet  hose, 
black  silk  vests  with  purple  trimmings, and  red 
plumes  in  broad-brimmed  felt  bats. 

Bellegarde  eclipsed  them  all,  having  donned 
a  snmptnons  court  suit  so  heavy  with  gold 
lace  as  to  fatigue  him  as  in  his  young  days  did 
the  half-armor,  while  his  chest  was  oppressed 
with  the  plaques  of  orders,  over  which  crossed 
the  ribbon  of  the  Golden  Fleece. 

Nangis,  in  his  mourning  suit,  seemed  a  blot 
on  the  glorious  assemblage,  but  this  led  to 
the  duke  singling  him  out  from  the  host  of 
suppliants  and  recognising  him. 

He  ran  to  him  with  the  parade  step,  and  re- 
fusing the  proffered  hand,  embraced  his  former 
brother-in-arms,  the  two  white  heads  comming- 
ling their  locks  like  patriarchs'  while  mum- 
bling those  effusive  compliments  which  were  in 
vogue. 

What  a  contrast:  the  aged  men  who  had  be- 
gun life  under  the  solitary  and  spurned  ban- 
ner of  the  humble  King  of  Navarre,  and  parted 
after  the  campaigns,  arduous  and  perilous  to 
meet  in  the  palace,  one  bowed  with  grief  and 
loneliness,  the  other  resplendent  with  court 
favor. 

On  seeing  the  attention  the  meeting  occa- 
sioned among  the  gilded  lookers-on,  Bellegarde 
colored  up,  recognising  that  his  friend's  gar- 
ments were  of  a  rustic  and  obsolete  cut. 

Scarcely  listening  to  the  explanation  of  the 
visitor's  business,  the  duke  hurried  him  to  a 
side  door,  muttering  something  about  sparing 
him  the  jeers  of  the  idle  spectators. 

"Mock  at  a  greybeard's  mourning?"  pro- 
tested Nangis. 


412  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Ob,  these  young  bloods  are  such  frivolous 
youth!  But  you  can  judge  of  them  by  your 
precious  nephew!" 

He  placed  him  in  the  lobby  and  hastily 
added: 

"Naturally,  you  shall  have  your  audience. 
You  will  impress  the  sovereign  deeply  as  he 
is  prone  to  accord  any  request  to  his  father's 
associates.  That  viper  Laffemas,  I  believe, 
owes  his  promotions,  wonderful  in  number  and 
in  height,  to  his  being  son  of  that  Jean  Laffe- 
mas, you  will  recall,  valet  to  the  Prince  of 
Beam?  Rumor  that  he  is  offspring  of  the 
Prime  Minister? — tut!  scandal!  But  stay 
here,  brother,  while  I  prepare  the  King  for 
your  plaint.  I  will  set  him  against  this  Cardi- 
nal who  never  tires  to  cast  down  the  noble 
and  degrade  us.  Let  the  signal  be  my  tapping 
with  my  foot — so!" 

Nangis  caught  his  hand  and  wrung  it  with 
vigor,  saying: 

"Heaven  repay  you!" 

At  the  end  of  the  lobby  was  a  gilded  door, 
before  which  a  royal  musketeer  was  marching. 

The  duke  knew  his  name,  for  they  were  all 
gentlemen  in  that  special  corps,  and  accosting 
him  courteously,  inquired  if  the  King  were  by 
himself. 

It  appeared  that  with  him  was  an  official  in 
black  allowed  "a  kissing  of  hands,"  iu  thanks 
for  some  appointment,  who  was  offering  the 
monarch  a  paper  to  sign. 

"An  order  on  the  Treasury?"  laughed  Belle- 
garde. 

"More  like  a  death-warrant,  judging  by  the 
man's  looks,  bearing  a  certain  likeness  with 
M.  de  Laffemas,  Master  of  Requests,  who,  how- 


OR.  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  U3 

over,  1  hear,  has  been  drowned  in  a  ditch  in 
r.iiit,in.\  !" 

The  news  of  Laffemas'  docking  at  Nangis 
had  reached  court,  but  as  usual,  with  courl 
gossip,  much  perverted. 

The  duke  returned  to  his  friend. 

"As  soon  as  the  King  is  at  liberty,  I  will 
introduce  you,"  he  said.  "Courage!"  and  he 
left  him  admiring,  with  a  listless  eye,  the 
ceiling  decorations  by  Primaticcio. 

How  was  it  Nangis  had  quitted  the  genial, 
sympathetic  travelling  companion  who  had  ac- 
companied him  to  the  Paris  custom  bars? 

Marion,  on  approaching  her  own  realm,  had 
reflected  on  her  attire.  The  Spanish  costume 
with  which  Mondori  had  furnished  her,  might 
excite  the  lauds  of  a  Saverny,  or  the  rustics', 
but  it  would  not  pass  in  the  capital,  and  far 
less  smooth  her  way  to  a  hearing  of  the  ruler. 

Luckily,  she  recalled,  in  Blois,  a  costumier's 
who  did  a  little  business  during  the  festive 
times  when  the  Duke  of  Orleans  held  court 
there;  this  was  an  old  actress  who  readily  sup- 
plied her  need.  She  appeared  at  the  palace, 
therefore,  in  a  suit  of  weeds,  somewhat  theatri- 
cal, but  very  imposing,  a  little  antedating  yet. 
much  as  would  be  costumed  "The  Mourning 
Bride." 

This  beauteous  and  piteous  ligure,  recalling 
the  Dido  of  marble  in  the  gallery,  entered  the 
chateau  without  difficulty  and  penetrated  to 
the  quarters  set  apart  for  the  Majesty. 

Put  here,  having  no  usher,  as  had  Nangis, 
to  remove  impediments,  a  halberdier  rudely 
lowered  his  spear  and  barred  her  passage,  say- 
ing, in  a  voice  to  correspond  with  his  ad. 

"No  admittance!  The  Royal  Presence  is 
within!" 


414     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Marion  drew  herself  up  with  disdain,  like  one 
surprised  at  being  refused  the  right  of  entry. 

"Sir,  do  they  now  couch  lances  at  ladies  here! 
Whilom,  they  used  to  be  placed  in  rest,  in 
their  honor!" 

The  musketeer  whom  Bellegarde  had  ad- 
dressed, w7as  relieved  and  came  out  at  this 
scene  into  the  hall. 

Marion  called  him  by  name: 

"M.  de  Navaille,"  said  she  firmly,  "I  want 
instant  speech  with  the  Head  of  the  Koyal 
Household!" 

Nayaille  had  recognised  a  court  lady  by  the 
wit  in  her  reproach  to  the  guardsman  and  now 
he  knew  the  beauty  again.  He  bowed,  with  a 
sweep  along  the  floor  of  the  plumes  in  his 
doffed  hat  and  replied: 

"To  be  sure,  madam!  You  can  go  into  the 
ante-room !  Let  pass !"  continued  he  to  the  hal- 
berdier. 

The  latter  lifted  his  lance,  grumbling: 

"Oh,  a  lady  for  the  duke!  Why  did  he  not 
say  so?  Well,  these  old  relics  are  more  often 
kissed  than  the  new  ones,  i'  faith !  I  will  wager 
that  King  Harry  was  too  wary  to  post  him 
as  sentry  at  the  Louvre  gates  when  he  had 
an  appointment  with  a  lady  as  lovely  as  this 
one!" 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  audience  of  his  Ma- 
jesty with  his  new  Lieutenant-Criminal  taking 
up  some  time,  for  Laffemas  did  not  forget  to 
deliver  his  budget  of  news  about  Brittany,  in- 
cluding the  movements  of  Prince  Gaston  who 
had  gone  to  Nantes,  as  with  a  view  to  keep 
up  connection  with  England — Bellegarde  had 
removed  his  old  friend  to  a  side  room  where 
he  had  refreshment  supplied  him.  On  his  re- 
turn into  the  waiting-room,  he  found  it  half 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  415 

filled  with  privileged  personages,  discussing 
the  news  while  awaiting  turns  to  sec  the  King. 

Like  a  hornet  among  butterflies  and  moths, 
flitted  the  Abbe  of  Notre  Dame,  the  Archbish- 
op's coadjutor,  Grondi,  with  malignant  remarks. 
As  if  to  vie  with  him  in  this  darting  of  spite- 
ful shafts,  Jester  Langely,  who  had  not  seen 
his  master  since  overnight,  shot  his  shuttle  of 
dry  mirth  to  and  fro  on  the  flimsy  warp. 

"The  Bishop  of  Auttin  gets  the  new  cardi- 
nal's hat!"  said  one. 

'Tie  won  it  at  the  'holy  Siege' — of  La  Ro- 
chelle,"  said  Condi,  "where  he  commanded  the 
artillery." 

"I  approve  the  Holy  Siege  of  Rome  hailing 
him,"  said  Langely;  "it  will  be  one  cardinal 
made  according  to  the  canons!" 

It  was  into  this  throng  that  Laffemas  thrust 
himself,  overjoyed  at  the  King  approving  of 
his  appointment  and  conduct  of  Didier  and 
Sa verity's  capture,  to  say  nothing  of  giving  the 
death- warrant  of  the  pair,  fully  signed  and 
sealed. 

The  court  nobles  feigned  not  to  know  him 
and  those  attached  to  the  castle  were  ignor- 
ant of  his  powers. 

Langely  enlightened  them,  through  the  first 
inquirer. 

"This  man  in  black  with  trimmings  of  er- 
mine? Oh,  he  is  not  one  of  the  followers  of 
the  Duke  of  Orleans,  or  he  would  be  less  arro- 
gant under  this  roof  whence  his  master  has 
tied,  fearful  of  losing  his  night's  sleep  for  a 
prolonged  one!  This  ape,  with  the  airs  of  a 
grandee1  of  Spain,  is  just  Sire  de  Laffemas,  In- 
tendant  of  Champagne,  now  Lieutenant-Crim- 
inal!" 

"An  Infernal  Lieutenant!"  whispered  Belle- 


416  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

garde  right  and  left,  "they  call  him  iu  town 
the  Cardinal's  Executioner — now,  he  had  be- 
come the  King's — save  the  mark!" 

"What  a  man  to  be  at  court!"  said  a  country 
squire. 

"What  marvel?  A  tiger  in  our  menagerie!" 
cried  Langely,  facing  the  frown  of  Laffemas 
with  composure,  for  the  other  had  turned  sus- 
pecting he  was  the  object  of  the  raillery. 
"Better  stroke  him  the  right  way  of  the  fur! 
be  his  friend!  Unless  he  take  you  by  the 
hand,  he  may  take  you  by  the  neck!" 

Going  up  to  Laffemas,  from  whom  the  aris- 
tocratic mob  was  falling  coldly  aloof,  he  caught 
him  by  the  sleeve  and  drew  him  toward  the 
Master  of  the  Household. 

"My  Lord  of  Bellegarde,"  said  he,  in  a  voice 
so  artfully  mingling  scorn  and  politeness  that 
even  Laffemas  was  duped:  "allow  me  to  pre- 
sent the  son  of  your  old  King's  valet — Laffe- 
mas, fresh  from  kissing  of  the  royal  hands  on 
taking  his  appointment  as  Chief  of  the  Police 
of  the  Kingdoms!" 

Laffemas  bowed. 

Bellegarde  stood  on  such  delicate  ground,  for 
he  best  knew  how7  deeply  he  had  compromised 
himself  for  the  Orleans  party,  that  he  received 
Langely's  hint  with  wisdom,  if  not  rapture. 

"I  am  delighted  to  make  your  acquaintance," 
said  he,  smiling  blandly. 

All  the  others  flocked  around  the  Chief  Offi- 
cer of  Justice,  at  this  cue. 

The  duke  turned  aside  to  mask  his  chagrin, 
muttering: 

"Death  of  my  life!  to  what  baseness  have  we 
fallen?  Oh,  to  see  the  son  a  valet,  too,  carry- 
ing the  fasces  with  which  his  father  was  chas- 
tised!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  417 

Iii  mudd v  boots  and  tattered  doublet,  though 
of  bull  leather,  to  show  his  haste,  the  Master 
of  the  Wolfhounds  entered  the  lobby. 

"The  Count  of  Charnace!"  said  Bellegarde. 
"Master  of  the  Hunt!  Well,  count,  what  pros- 
pects of  sport?" 

"Tool!"  said  the  Huntsman,  shaking  his  vel- 
vet-capped head.  "I  had  hopes  of  some  wolves, 
for  a  report  reached  me  that  they  had  eaten 
a  peasant  or  two  in  the  forest!  But  I  have  not 
lighted  on  their  trail." 

"We  are  luckier!"  said  Langely,  pointing 
with  his  elbow  to  Laffemas.  "We  have  a  wolf 
in  our  midst!" 

"Thou  buffoon!"  said  Charnace,  "can  you  not 
promise  us  something  more  gay?" 

"Yes,"  said  Langely,  who  had  dextrously 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  writing  on  the  scroll 
Laffemas  was  flourishing  and  to  which  dangled 
the  seal  of  State  in  blood-red  wax.  "There 
will  be  some  sport  at  Reuil,  where  a  couple 
of  gentlemen  will  be  hanged  for  fighting  a  duel 
against  the  royal  Edict !" 

"Do  you  know  that?"  stammered  Laffemas, 
rolling  up  the  scroll  smartly. 

"What  does  not  our  dear  Langely  know?" 
said  Bellegarde.  who  feared  less  the  man  who 
appeased  Louis  XIII.'s  appetite  for  cruelty 
than  he  who  made  him  laugh  once  in  a  while. 

"Know  it!"  said  Langely,  recalling  all  he 
had  seen  at  Blois,  "it  is  I  who  ought  to  be 
appointed  Head  of  the  Police,  if  I  would  ex- 
change the  rod  for  my  bauble!  For  know  ye, 
that  the  culprits  are  the  Marquis  of  Saverny 
and  a  gentleman  of  Blois  named  Didier!" 

The  words  fell  here  on  dull  ears  in  silence, 
but  to  the  right  and  lef-1  of  the  waiting-room 
sounded  cries:     On  the  left,  over  his  sherry 


418  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

and  cakes,  the  Marquis  of  Nangis  had  heard 
his  nephew's  name,  and  in  the  side  piece  to 
the  right,  Marion,  freshly  introduced,  was  ap- 
palled by  the  syllables  of  Didier's. 

"Hush!"  said  Bellegarde,  with  unwonted  ten- 
derness. "It  is  his  fond  old  uncle  hears  you, 
there!" 

"Come  to  sue  the  King  for  the  life  I  hold," 
muttered  Laffemas,  plunging  the  warrant  into 
the  folds  of  his  mantle  as  if  it  might  be  wrested 
from  him. 

A  young  nobleman  had  peered  through  the 
Venetian  glass  at  the  side  where  the  second 
exclamation  had  been  heard. 

"A  woman!  young — fainted — coming  to,"  he 
said;  "by  the  light  of  heaven,  it  is  Marion  De- 
lorme!  Returned  to  court!  Marion,  gentle- 
men!"     Laffemas  recovered  his  breath. 

"Marion,  under  the  same  roof  as  Louis  the 
Chaste!  come  to  sue  for  her  lover's  life!"  jeered 
he. 

"Dog!"  said  Bellegarde  in  an  undertone,  "al- 
ready he  snaps  at  the  hand  which  lifted  him 
out  of  the  kennel!     He  will  die  no  good  end!" 

"Amen!"  said  Langely,  overhearing.  "Sue 
the  King  for  the  life  of  a  man!  Marion  is  not 
yet  accredited  with  my  fool's  cap!  Marion,  my 
Lord  Lieutenant,"  continued  he,  raising  his 
voice  so  as  to  be  heard  in  the  adjoining  room, 
"Marion  will  rather  appeal  to  the  Cardinal!" 

"The  King  receives!"  called  out  an  usher, 
opening  a  door,  and  saluting  the  Duke  of  Belle- 
garde, who  advanced  to  take  the  royal  orders 
as  to  the  introduction  of  the  suppliants,  peti- 
tioners and  well-wishers. 

In  a  moment  or  two  all  was  order  in  the 
ante-room,  all  stillness. 

Laffemas  trembled  at  the  jester's  advice. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  419 

He  sidled  through  the  courtiers,  who  paid  no 
more  attention  to  him.  and  reached  the  door 
of  the  side-room  where  Marion,  who  had 
aroused  herself,  was  near  the  threshold.  She 
paused  in  horror  at  sight  of  one  whom  she  had 
hoped  far  away. 

He  flaunted  the  warrant  under  her  eyes  and 
pointed  to  the  King's  signature. 

One  glance  sufficed  her;  she  hid  her  con- 
vulsed features  in  her  white  hands. 

All  the  occupants  of  the  waiting-room  were 
staring  at  the  inner  doorway  to  behold  the 
monarch. 

Laffemas  and  the  lady  were  practically  alone. 

"I  will  exchange  this  for  a  wedding-eon- 
tract,"  hissed  the  Lieutenant-Criminal. 

She  started  out  of  her  consternation,  and  his 
eyes  catching  hers,  they  gazed  at  each  other, 
en  wrapt — his  had  the  fascination  of  a  basi- 
lisk's. 

"Avaunt,  Satan!"  said  she.  "The  King  can 
cancel  what  he  writes!" 

•The  King!"  repeated  Laffemas,  with  inde- 
cent disdain  so  near  the  sovereign;  "try  to  get 
the  good  will  of  the  King — and,  meanwhile, 
beware  that  you  lose  not  mine!" 

"I  will  try  the  King,"  said  she  solemnly, 
"and  that  failing,  the—" 

"The  Cardinal?"  queried  Laffemas,  remem- 
bering the  fool's  hint  and  speaking  with  self- 
confidence,  more  firm  than  before. 

"No,  sir!     The  King  of  Kings!" 

The  officer  of  justice  uttered  a  low  and  im- 
pious laugh  and  retired  with  a  smile  of  self- 
satisfaction  and  triumph,  while  an  usher  came 
to  lead  Marion  and  the  Marquis  of  Nangis  into 
the  presence  of  Louis  the  Thirteenth,  "Chaste 
and  Just." 


420  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

UNHAPPY  AS  A  KING. 

When  Bellegarde  entered  the  room  where 
the  King  prepared  to  meet  his  morning's  call- 
ers, the  duke  found  him  sitting,  almost  huddled 
up,  in  a  capacious  arm-chair,  sighing  deeply,  a 
habit  of  his. 

He  showed  in  every  trait  of  the  pallid,  long- 
drawn  countenance  traces  of  that  languor 
which  was  to  carry  him  off.  His  long  hair 
was  black  as  the  suit  of  velvet  and  silk, 
trimmed  with  dead  silver  and  burnt  mother- 
of-pearl  buttons,  which  tightly  clad  his  atten- 
uated figure.  His  sight  was  already  so  fail- 
ing that  he  thought  to  renounce  outdoor  pur- 
suits in  favor  of  the  hundred  petty  arts — bird- 
traps,  improvements  in  fire-arms,  designs  in 
coins,  and  a  little  dabbling  with  cookery,  to 
say  nothing  of  painting,  poetising,  and  compos- 
ing ballet  music — which  caused  the  satirical 
epitaph  to  be  written  upon  this  unworthy  son 
of  Henry  of  Navarre: 

"Here  lies  a  master  who  had  not 

One  master  gift  or  grace; 
Although  a  hundred  virtues  his, 

Which  high  a  varlet  place!" 

Two  or  three  leather  coffers  had  been  un- 
packed, and  from  them  had  been  transferred 
to  the  dressers  and  a  table  by  his  pointed  el- 
bow, books  about  fowling,  shooting,  hounds, 
falconry,  with  musical  instruments  and  some 


OR,  RICHELIEU   1'KIM ED.  121 

of  the  toys  of  his  own  making.  Nevertheless, 
feeling  thai  he  was  a  delinquent  from  his  re- 
cent  contact   with  Prince  Gaston,  Bellegarde 

hardly  looked,  as  he  profoundly  bowed,  at  the 
high  forehead,  antique  profile  and  aquiline  nose 
of  the  Bourbons,  which  still  imposed  on  the 
impressionable. 

"]  have  had  a  bad  night's  rest,  Bellegarde," 
said  the  King,  between  a  yawn  and  a  sigh. 

The  duke  was  relieved  by  the  triviality  of 
the  remark. 

"My  lord,  nobody  rests  in  tnese  anxious 
limes!"  said  he. 

"You  are  right,  duke!  The  State  is  rolling 
at  a  terrific  rate  toward  an  unfathomable  gulf!" 

-Oh,  nay,  sire!  What  harm  can  befall  while 
it  is  guided  by  a  strong  and  sure  hand — " 

The  King  darted  a  sharp  glance  at  the  cour- 
tier who  did  not  wince  and  said  quickly: 

"Yes,  the  Cardinal  bears  a  weighty  charge!" 

He  did  not  make  disguise  over  the  little  place 
he  held  in  the  actual  government,  no  more 
than  when,  as  a  child,  his  Regency  fell  upon  his 
mother  the  Medicis. 

-1  should  like  to  relieve  his  aged  hands  of 
the  duty."  continued  the  monarch,  plucking 
the  stubble  of  his  chin-beard,  which  had  been 
shaved,  as  we  know,  and  which  growth  irri- 
tated him  like  a  young  bird  by  pin-feathers. 
"Albeit,  in  truth,  I  have  all  my  work  to  do 
to  exist,  without  the  additional  pain  of  reign- 
ing!" 

The  courtier  did  not  count  the  sighs  which 
accentuated  the  distressful  sentences. 

-Why,  sire,  one  may  not  call  the  Cardinal- 
duke  oid!"  said  Bellegarde,  who,  like  most  obi 
men,  resented  criticisms  on  age. 

Louis  looked  round  the  room,  frowning  not 


422  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

from  ire  but  from  short-sightedness,  and  said: 

'No  one  is  here  to  listen  and  peep — " 

Bellegarde  made  a  fierce  gesture,  with  his 
hand  to  his  side,  as  to  draw  a  sword  and  ex- 
plore the  arras. 

"So,  answer  me  frankly,  as  becomes  an  old 
servitor  of  my  father:  What  is  your  opin- 
ion— " 

"Of  whom,  sire?" 

"Of  him!"  as  if  there  were  only  one  man  in 
the  kingdom  to  be  considered. 

"Of  his  Eminence?" 

Louis  nodded,  testily,  as  if  his  time  was  reck- 
oned. 

"It  is  with  difficulty  that  one's  dazzled  sight 
takes  cognisance,"  faltered  the  peer. 

"Pshaw!  Is  this  your  soldierly  frankness!" 
He  examined  the  room  again,  from  the  deep  bay 
of  the  windows  to  the  folds  of  tapestry,  as  if 
to  perceive  a  mailed  foot  at  the  base  of  them. 
"Yet  we  have  no  monks  in  these  walls,  neither 
grey  nor  red!  No  spies,  I  trust.  What  do 
you  fear,  duke  and  peer,  marshal  and  minister, 
that  you  will  not  speak  out?  The  King  is  de- 
siring your  open  opinion  on  the  Prime  Minis- 
ter!" 

"If  a  perfectly  open  answer  is  required — " 

"Utterly  open,  duke!" 

And  the  King  leaned  forward  in  the  chair, 
leaning  his  weight  alternately  on  one  foot  and 
the  other,  after  the  peculiarity  of  his  race. 

"Then,  you  have  in  him  a  great  man,"  re- 
joined the  duke  boldly,  which  was  the  more 
lofty  in  him  as  he  was  not  without  misgiving 
that  Kichelieu  would  yet  exile  him  or  disgrace 
him  as  he  had  Luynes,  Epernon  or  those  sons 
of  "the  Fair  Gabrielle,"  whom  he  had  induced 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  423 

the  King  not  to  forgive,  although  they  were 
his  half-brothers. 

"I  wish  you  would  assure  them  so,  at  Rome! 
They  mighl  make  him  t lit-  next  Pope!"  said 
the  King,  not  with  whole  satire.  "Mark  you, 
between  the  prince  doing  nothing  and  the 
statesman  doing  all,  the  realm  is  in  tribula- 
tion!" 

"Urn!"  mumbled  the  duke,  who  could  not 
understand  why  he  was  taken  into  confidence. 

"Is  he  not  the  regulator  of  all  things,"  pro- 
ceeded the  King,  who  had  these  moments  of 
unbosoming  himself  to  his  long  series  of  ephe- 
meral favorites,  "peace  or  war,  finance  and  cus- 
toms? I  tell  you,  lord,  that  he  is  the  veritable 
sovereign!  It  was  a  piece  of  his  treachery  by 
which  the  Catholic  League  was  dissolved!  *  He 
has  hard  hit  the  House  of  Austria,  to  which 
my  Queen  Anna  is  closest  kin,  and  which, 
more  or  less  on  that  account,  wished  wrell  to 
me!" 

"Nay,  nay,  sire,  did  he  not  establish  a  rabbit 
warren  for  you  in  the  Louvre  gardens!" 

"Is  that  my  share  of  the  plunder  of  wars?" 
He  coughed  and  looked  on  his  handkerchief  at 
what  he  had  wiped  off  his  thin  lips,  as  his 
physician  ordered,  to  see  if  he  had  broken  a 
blood-vessel.      "He  intrigues  with  Denmark?" 

"I  do  not  know — but  he  let  the  Crown  fix 
the  value  of  the  silver  mark  for  the  gold- 
smiths!" said  P.ellegarde,  evasively. 

"lie  is  prodigal  in  distributing  riches  to 
those  that  please  him!"  pursued  the  other,  wax- 
ing still  more  wrathful  at  being  so  softly  buf- 
feted. 

"Sire,  he  let  your  Majesty  decree  by  his  own 
hand  that  edict  forbidding  citizens  to  spend 
inure  than  a  crown  per  caput  in  the  wine-shop!" 


424     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Not  content  to  be  King  be  aims  to  be  Pope!" 

"He  makes  war  on  the  Pontifical  States." 
remonstrated  Beliegarde.  "That  is  unlike  a 
'prentice  Pontiff!'' 

"And  will  profit  by  some  one  of  those  pretty 
treaties  which  he  arranges  in  secret!" 

He  rose  and  paced  the  room,  unsteadily,  tap- 
ping the  panels  with  a  suspicious  hand  and 
slapping  the  tapestry,  from  habit. 

"I  tell  you,  Richelieu  does  eyerything!  All 
requests  and  petitions  flock  to  him  or  his  crea- 
tures— I  had  a  specimen  of  the  tribe  this  morn- 
ing— " 

"Laffemas?" 

"Yes,  the  Lord  Lieutenant!  What  a  high 
officer  of  justice!  He  wrung  from  me  a  death- 
warrant  signature — I,  who  hate  to  spill  blood!" 

Beliegarde  bowed  to  conceal  a  smile,  for  he 
had  seen,  at  the  Siege  of  La  Rochelle,  how 
proof  Louis  had  been  to  the  yells  of  Hugue- 
nots dying  of  thirst  in  a  ditch. 

"And  a  blank  commission  for  a  governor  of 
a  province  in  our  Indies!  Who  are  they  go- 
ing to  send  there,  to  extort  rupees  and  dia- 
monds from  the  rajahs?  Another  of  the  Rich- 
elieu brood!  Ah,  all  is  solid  there — while 
here,  the  shade  of  monarchy  fades — "  smiting 
his  hollow  chest.  "Is  there  any  one  without 
who  would  haste  to  meet  me?" 

"Those  who  want  to  be  touched  for  the 
King's  Evil!"  replied  the  duke,  letting  his  wit 
get  the  mastery  over  him. 

But  the  speaker  did  not  hear,  in  the  increase 
of  his  choler. 

"I  accorded  the  lieutenancy,  but  I  am  dis- 
gusted by  the  voracity  of  his  legion — he  wants 
the  collar  of  the  Fleece  for  a  favorite!     A  new 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  425 

gallant  of  his  niece.  Lady  Combalet,  I  dare- 
say!" 

•She  leads  a  fine  life,  sire!  All  the  rest  is 
calumny!" 

"Duke,  have  you  seen  him  ride  forth!  with 
two  hundred  of  his  insolent  red  and  brilliant 
musketeers  on  foot  to  guard  him!" 

"But  he  has  only  a  hundred  horse!"  said  the 
duke. 

"Shameful!     lie  is  ruin  to  Taj  temper!" 

"Majestv,  he  saves  France!''  the  nobleman 
valiantly  retorted,  seeing  with  subtletv  that 
the  torrent  of  invectives  sought  for  an  ob- 
stacle to  make  it  foam. 

"It  is  on  my  head  will  fall  all  the  blood!  woe 
is  me!  Peccavi!  While  he  is  signing  treaties 
of  alliance  with  Swedish  Reformers  and  fight- 
ing against  liege  sons  of  the  Church,  he  leaves 
me  to  be  haunted  by  the  hundreds  of  headless 
wretches  who  lost  that  casket  of  the  spirit 
on  Execution  Place!  And  all  were  friends  of 
mine!  His  purple  is  dyed  by  the  blood  struck 
from  their  necks,  which  my  arm,  in  tender 
moments,  interlaced!  He  goes  out  splendid 
with  gold  and  cardinal-red.  I  am  garbed  in 
mourning  and  have — look  on  that  board  there 
■ — to  decree  that  none  shall  dress  in  gay  col- 
ors— so  that  I  shall  not  walk  alone,  like  the 
«law  among  the  peacocks!" 

"Faith!  he  does  not  spare  my  friends  or  his 
own!     Remember  Saint  Preuil!" 

"He  hates  well,  yes — " 

"And  loves  those  whom  he  haply  loves,  with 
imderness!" 

"He  has  exiled  my  mother!" 

"And  your  brother!" 

Louis  burst  into  laughter. 


426     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"By  St.  Gris!  you  are  as  keen  as  Langely — 
it  compensates!" 

Bellegarde  allowed  the  echoes  of  the  harsh 
laugh  to  die  away  and  said,  in  a  gentle  but 
steady  voice: 

"Armand  de  Kichelieu  is  the  worthy  son  of 
the  Captain  Duplessis  who  fought  with  your 
sainted  sire,  my  lord,  and,  faithful,  dependa- 
ble, devoted,  he  never  acts — my  word  on  it! 
without  the  belief  that  he  is  meeting  your 
wishes!  I  know  not  what  vast  plots  are  hatch- 
ing in  the  Papal  City,  but  rely  on  this — Riche- 
lieu will  not  abandon  Louis  to  be  Spiritual 
King  of  the  Universe!" 

"I  hate  him!"  hissed  the  other,  unmelted  by 
this  tribute.  "He  is  a  burden  on  me,  an  eye- 
sore, a  gall  in  the  flank!  I  might  have  been 
a  notable  prince  without  this  brighter  glory  at 
my  side,  drowning  my  effulgence!  But  he  will 
tread  too  heavily  on  the  lion!  he  will  arouse 
the  dormant  monarch!  Mighty  as  is  his  fame, 
it  is  fed  on  my  fuel,  mind!  All  will  go  into 
shadow,  like  the  tomb,  if  I  hurl  down  the  pile 
of  wealth  which  is  his  pyramid!  may  be  his 
pyre !" 

His  single  auditor  had  been  under  fire  of 
an  army,  but  never  had  he  passed  a  period  of 
time  less  pleasantly,  more  gallingly  and  with 
such  painful  apprehensions.  The  King  would 
never  forget  to  whom  he  had  uttered  these 
emanations  of  a  gangrened  heart.  And  still 
they  were  flung  forth! 

"Like  the  ruler,  my  realm  is  growing  worse 
in  health!  But  without  as  within  all  look  to 
the  Minister  as  the  cure-all!  Never  to  the 
Lord's  anointed!  How  he  worries  Austria,  my 
ally  and  mv  friend!  With  what  calm  he  has 
allowed  my  ships  to  be  captured  in  the  Gulf 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  427 

of  Gascony!  He  would  attach  me  to  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  save  the  mark!  The  Most  Catholic 
Majesty  after  my  brother  Spain!  It  is  Riche- 
lieu thai  seems  the  soul  of  Kingcraft,  lilliii!', 
all  the  country  like  that  loosened  imprisoned 
genius  which,  emitted  as  vapor,  threatened  to 
overwhelm  the  scene!  My  family  is  ousted — 
I  will  be  relegated  to  some  corner,  soon!  Oh, 
duke,  am  I  not  to  be  pitied?" 

Bellegarde  refrained  from  a  word.  He  had 
retired  to  the  south  window,  but  it  was  a 
cheerless  sight  on  which  he  distractedly  gazed, 
while  compelled  to  listen  to  the  outbreak.  The 
forest  was  gloomy  and  grey,  for  a  thick  mist 
rose  and  began  to  spit  drops  which  spluttered 
on  the  dry  leaves,  tormented  a  little  bv  a  tit- 
ful  wind  which  presaged  a  heavy  rain  storm. 

Suddenly  the  duke  felt  a  hot  breath  on  his 
cheek.  The  King,  finding  himself  without  a 
hearer,  had  joined  him  in  the  recess. 

"Still  raining!  No  hunting  to-day!"  snarled 
he,  disappointed.  "Do  you  see  that  rogue 
stealing  along  under  the  beeches?  It  is  a 
poacher,  I  engage!  There,  he  has  a  'broken' 
gun — like  that  I  invented;  its  short  barrel, 
which  his  rags  imperfectly  hide,  is  carried 
under  one  arm  and  the  stock  under  the  other! 
Oh,  duke,  I  envy  that  poacher's  fate!  I  would 
exchange  mine  for  it!  He  can  go  hunting 
when  he  likes!  Make  a  jest  of  the  prince's 
deer-keepers,  and  sleep  under  the  oaks  if  out 
late!  he  will  sing  while  the  thunder  reverber- 
ates, and  dwell  free,  like  the  woodland  birds! 
In  his  cot,  at  least,  the  boor  is  master!  But 
I  am  alway  to  have  before  my  eyes  this  priest 
in  i»d,  who  looks  on  from  afar  with  gravity 
and  sternness,  while  his  tools  come  and  badger 
me  for  my  signature  to  his  deeds  of  blood! 


428  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

'Sire,  this  must  be  done,  for  your  good  pleas- 
ure!' What  derision!  This  man  stands  be- 
fore me  and  the  people  see  only  his  Red  Robe. 
If  anyone  asks:  'What  is  that  moving  under 
that  cloak?'  a  passer-by  will  whisper,  as  of  a 
child  at  the  apron-strings,  'Hush!  it  is  the 
King!'" 

He  returned  to  the  table,  leaned  on  the  chair 
to  control  his  trembling  and  coughed  hectic- 
ally. 

"Who  waits  without?  More  bearers  of 
death-sentences?  Every  day  it  is  a  new  list, 
duke!  Now  Protestant,  now  duellists!  He  is 
not  choice  as  to  the  kind  of  head!  dissenter 
or  combatant!  All  is  one!  Like  those  Tar- 
tars who  heap  up  monuments  of  skulls  to  their 
Khan,  or — what  does  he  do  with  them?" 

"It  is  my  time  to  save  a  head!"  thought  Belle- 
garde,  turning  and  tapping  on  the  waxed  oaken 
boards  with  his  heel. 

To  the  astonishment  of  the  sovereign,  who 
expected  only  another  of  the  Cardinal's  emis- 
saries, the  white-headed  Marquis  of  Nangis,  ac- 
companied at  a  respectful  distance  by  Mdlle. 
Delorme  in  her  black  dress,  entered  the  room. 


OR.  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  429 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE  SUIT  WHICH  FAILED. 

Nangis  advanced  toward  the  King  and  sank 
on  one  knee  with  reverence. 

His  sight  was  bad;  his  limbs  were  wearied; 
besides,  he  imagined  he  saw  enough  likeness 
to  his  ancient  master  in  this  son  of  his  to 
command  sorrowful  respect. 

"What  do  vou  seek?"  said  the  King,  letting 
his  still  puzzled  eyes  wander  from  this  old 
noble  to  the  woman  who  had  also  knelt,  pray- 
ing, at  the  doorway. 

"Justice,  dread  Majesty!"  said  the  marquis. 

"Against  whom?" 

"Against  the  sanguinary  tyrant  Armand  Du- 
plessis.  whom  men  hail  as  your  Cardinal-Min- 
ister!" 

Louis  started  and  glanced  toward  Belle- 
garde,  who  was  not  surprised  at  the  visitors 
and  must  have  arranged  for  their  entrance. 
How  singular  that  this  suppliant  should  strike 
on  the  head  which  he  had  been  belaboring. 

"Mercy!"  said  Marion  in  a  soft  voice,  in  tbis 
silent  interval. 

"For  whom  do  you  crave  mercy,  lady?"  in- 
quired the  King. 

"His  name  is  Didier!1' 

"And  I  plead  for  the  Marquis  of  Saverny," 
added  Nangis. 

Louis  knit  his  brows.  Those  very  names 
were  in  the  document  of  execution  which  he 
had  signed  for  the  new  Lieutenant-Criminal. 
So  "Didier"  and  "Saverny"    were  enemies  of 


'430     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  Minister?  What  a  chance  to  thwart  his 
foe.  Always  providing  that  Richelieu  was  his 
foe — perhaps,  all  things  considered,  only  a  bit- 
ter friend! 

"You,  my  lord,"  said  Louis,  "should  be  the 
marquis'  uncle,  the  Lord  of  Nangis?"  The  old 
nobleman  bowed,  smiling  a  little  at  not  hav- 
ing been  utterly  forgotten.  "By  what  right  do 
you  sue?"  continued  the  King  of  the  kneeling 
woman  who  seemed  less  to  direct  her  prayers 
to  him  than  to  heaven. 

He  had  not  recognised  her,  having  studiously 
avoided  even  sating  his  curiosity  as  regards 
the  most-talked  of  woman  in  his  capital,  but 
her  beauty  was  manifest  through  her  sorrow. 

"I  am  his  sister,"  replied  Marion,  firmly. 

Bellegarde  hid  an  impertinent  grimace  be- 
hind his  hand. 

"Well,  uncle  and  sister,  what  would  you 
have?" 

Nangis  pointed  to  the  King's  hands  and  re- 
joined: 

"Justice  from  this  one — mercy  from  the  oth- 
er! It  is  all  I  ask  of  my  two  sovereigns,  the 
King  of  France  and  the  King  over  high  heav- 
en !" 

"Plead  for  us  both,"  whispered  Marion, 
thinking  that  the  old  man  would  touch  the 
monarch  more  surely. 

"My  nephew,  Nazaire  de  Saverny,  crossed 
swords  with  a  gentleman  of  Blois,  of  uncertain 
parentage,  which  was  a  mistake.  Both  bore 
themselves  bravely,"  continued  the  marquis, 
looking  to  see  in  the  royal  eye,  wan  and  dis- 
traught, such  a  sparkle  as  would  show  that 
the  son  of  Henry  of  Navarre  liked  courage  as 
much  as  his  predecessor.  "But  there  is  no 
meeting-place  for  men  of  the  sword  where  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  L3] 

Minister  has  not  posted  spies  and  myrmidons!" 

"1  have  heard  of  the  combat!  under  the  very 
lamp  which  illumined  an  edict  of  ours  aueni 
duelling!  It  was  bold,  rather  than  brave. 
Enough  of  explanations!  What  would  you  say 
to  me?"  and  he  frowned  and  glanced  aside  at 
the  window,  against  which  a  breeze  thing  some 
drops  of  hissing  rain. 

Nangis  rose.  In  his  loneliness,  some  echo  of 
the  popular  feeling— that  is,  the  people  he  as- 
sociated with — arrived  within  his  castle.  He 
guessed  that  mercy  and  justice  had  failed  to 
win  his  case,  and  with  the  spirit  of  a  wounded 
lion  he  determined  to  put  his  hand  on  this 
opportunity  and  say  in  the  royal  presence  wdiat 
most  of  his  brethren  in  Brittany  thought. 

"I  have  to  say  that  it  is  high  time  that  your 
Majesty  reflected  over  matters." 

Bellegarde  made  sign  upon  sign  to  stay  this 
speech  at  the  outset,  but  the  Bretons  are  wilful. 

"The  Cardinal-Duke  cherishes  mischievous 
projects,"  proceeded  Nangis,  gathering 
strength  as  he  went  on;  "he  drinks  the  blood 
of  your  subjects!" 

Louis  started;  he  had  twinges  of  remorse 
for  having  let  favorites  of  his  meet  the  axe, 
without  too  much  combating  their  doom. 

"Not  thus  would  your  lather  Henry,  of  right 
regal  memory,  have  surrendered  his  loyal  serv- 
itors! He  neve.'  struck  a  blow  without  hav- 
ing narrowly  inspected  where  it  would  fall. 
Guarded  closely  by  that  peerage,  it  was  guard- 
ed fondly  by  him.  He  knew  that  nun  of  the 
sword  should  not  be  dealt  with  by  the  man 
of  the  axe  and  halter!  Such  heads  should  not 
be  wantonly  stricken  oil',  bul  reserved  to  face 
the  blast  oi'  war!     He  knew  all  about  this,  as 


432  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  R03E; 

more  than  one  bullet  had  scathed  the  white 
plumes  over  his  brow!" 

Bellegarde  gnawed  his  lace  ruffles;  Louis  had 
been  at  the  La  Rochelle  investment,  but  all 
the  while  he  longed  and  chafed  to  return  to 
his  amusements  and  frivolous  occupations  at 
Paris.  It  was  only  in  actual  fighting  that  his 
paternal  courage  revived  in  him. 

"Those  times  were  the  good  ones,-'  pursued 
the  noble,  smiling,  as  to  old  friends,  at  some 
portraits  of  his  contemporaries.  "I  belong 
there,  and  I  honor  them!  Never  durst  a  pre- 
late lift  a  finger  against  a  peer!  Then,  the 
head  under  the  coronet  wTould  have  been  a 
costly  bargain! 

"Sire,  in  these  evil  times — take  an  old  gen- 
tleman's word  on  it!  keep  a  few  true  nobles 
about  your  person!  Some  of  these  days,  per- 
adventure,  your  Grace  may  have  need  of  them ! 
In  those  days,  alas!  you  may  bewail  the  Exe- 
cution-place having  been  so  well  attended  to 
see  those  lords  of  approved  bravery,  to  whom 
the  rising  37outh  turned  envious  glances,  dy- 
ing long  before  they  were  aged! 

"The  embers  are  yet  warm  of  the  civil  wars, 
and  there  is  an  echo  of  yester-eve's  tocsin  on  the 
air!'' 

Louis  shuddered.  He  imagined  that,  in  their 
cowls  and  frocks,  Clement  and  Ravaillac  were 
ringing  a  knell  for  him  as  for  his  foregoers. 

"Be  less  lavish  of  the  sword-play  of  the  exe- 
cutioner— it  is  he  whose  blade  should  be  sealed 
up  in  the  scabbard,  not  ours!  The  worst  use 
you  can  put  the  planks  to  of  our  noble  old  oaks 
is  to  build  scaffolds  and  gibbets!  In  their 
chains,  haply,  a  skeleton  is  dangling  which  was 
a  man  of  valiant  heart,  who  will  be  mourned 
for,  one  day  to  come!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  L33 

Marion  Bobbed  loudly  and  the  duke,  in  de- 
Bpair,   knew    ii(»i    whal    unlucky   star   to   curse 
which  had  caused  him  to  befriend  this  inex 
haustible  fount  of  the  complaints  of  the  realm.  . 

"Sire,  blood  is  not  a  blessed  dew — it  does 
not  fall  from  heaven  but  only  from  the  scaf- 
fold! nothing  good  wiil  grow  on  the  Execu- 
tion Place!  II'  you  people  the  heights  of  Mon- 
faucon  with  the  hanged,  the  populace  will  flock 
there  to  pay  derisive  court,  or  genuine  adora- 
tion, while  shunning  the  windows  that  look  out 
of  the  Louvre  Palace! 

"If  the  dying  voice  of  the  courtiers  must  en- 
liven you,  while  they  are  being  put  to  death, 
let  them  go!  but  loud  as  may  be  the  flatterer's 
chants,  saying  'All  is  well,  and  that  you  are 
a  Bourbon  and  son  of  Henry  the  Great!'  still 
their  clamor  will  not  drown  the  sound  of  a 
human  head  dropping  on  the  boards!  My  ad- 
vice is,  do  not  play  at  such  a  game! 

"King,  who  must  one  day  go  before  the  King 
of  Kings,  I  tell  you  that  a  duel  is  better  than 
an  execution;  that  there  is  no  joy  and  honor 
in  that  kingdom  where  the  deathsman  is  busier 
than  the  soldier;  that  a  hard  pastorship  is 
France  where  the  priest  receives  his  tithe  in 
heads!  that  the  statesman,  who  is  mostly  illus- 
•trious  among  the  inhuman,  has  blood  on  those 
hands  with  which  he  lilts  your  sceptre!" 

The  King  kept  his  true  sentiments  veiled  as 
much  as  possible.  He  did  not  display  the  irri- 
tation Bellegarde  expected  but,  eyeing  the  lat- 
ter with  a  sidelong  glance,  replied  with  empha- 
sis: 

"My  Lord  Cardinal  is  my  friend!  Who  loves 
me.  should  love  him  '.', 

"That  is  a  hint  for  me,  1  suppose,"  muttered 
the  duke.     "But,  woe  to  me!  this  Xangis  will 


434  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

never  have  done!  Marion  is  a  pattern  courtier 
to  him;  she  says  nought  but  only  weeps — but, 
at  the  same  time,  what  eloquence  in  those  tear- 
quenched  diamonds!" 

Nangis  was  indeed  about  to  continue,  but  the 
King  cried: 

''Enough!  Richelieu  is  but  another  Louis! 
close  this  harangue  which  merely  ruffles  one's 
mind!  It  is  such  speeches  that  have  made  me 
grey  before  my  time!" 

The  head  of  the  Thirteenth  Louis  had  in- 
deed showed  white  while  he  was  yet  young. 

"May  not  an  old  man  and  a  weeping  woman 
speak  of  a  matter  of  life  and  death!"  persisted 
the  marquis. 

"In  brief,  what  do  you  desire?" 

"The  pardon  of  Nazaire,  my  nephew!  a 
scapegrace,  but  who  nobly  surrendered  him- 
self, and  made  himself  a  scapegoat  in  the  hope 
to  save  his  adversary!" 

"Pardon  for  Didier,  sire!"  said  Marion  in  her 
exquisite  voice. 

"All  that  a  monarch  does  to  pardon  is  so 
much  robbery  to  justice,"  said  the  King,  coldly. 

Nangis  had  drawn  back  and  went  the  farther 
as  Bellegarde  hastened  to  take  him  by  the 
sleeve,  reproaching  him  with  furious  looks. 

Marion  rose  and  threw  back  her  veil,  saying, 
with  a  tone  which  finally  pierced  her  sorrow 
and  was  by  turns, coaxing  and  fervent;  but  it 
was  lofty  and  above  the  earth  throughout. 

"Your  majesty  will  inevitably  have  compas- 
sion on  our  grief!  And  on  those  two  mad- 
brained  young  men,  decreed  to  die  on  the  in- 
famous gibbet  for  fighting  a  duel!  Pardon  me, 
too,  that  1,  a  woman  of  no  pretensions  to  birth 
and  rank,  know  not  how  to  address  a  sover- 
eign!    Perhaps  it  is  unseemly  before  the  King 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  435 

to  wail  and  weep,  but  your  Prime  Minister  is 
a  monster!  why  docs  he  hate  the  gallants  of 
Fiance?  Ah,  he  may  have  seen  this  old  lord's 
son,  for  as  much  as  he  was  a  courtier,  but  my 
Didier  is  none  oi'  thai — ah!  he  would  have 
loved  him  had  he  seen  him!  J  Jut  to  slay  two 
men  at  l heir  still  tender  age,  for  crossing 
swords,  and  scarce  scratching  one  another! 
Think  of  their  mothers — of  their  fathers,  if 
they  could  know!  at  their  being  cut  off  so  un- 
timely! 

'•Heaven  will  not  allow  this  enormity!  and 
the  King  will  countersign  the  higher  decree 
of  heaven!  Oh,  that  we  women  could  speak  as 
men  do,  without  trembling  of  the  lip,  without 
moistening  of  the  eye,  with  something  better 
than  sob  and  tear  as  we  bend  the  knee  under 
your  dread  Grace's  imperious  glance!" 

"Artful  jade!"  muttered  Bellegarde;  for 
Louis  could  not  face  the  appealing  eyes;  it  is 
true  that  he  had  long  since  quailed  under  the 
glances  of  his  Spanish  wife.  "Faith,  she  will 
speak  more  to  the  purpose  than  Xangis!" 

"Granted  that  they  did  wrong!"  continued 
Marion,  judging  that  her  hearer's  silence,  since 
he  had  peremptorily  checked  the  marquis, 
boded  rather  good  than  ill;  "it  will  make  your 
kindness  in  overlooking  it,  the  grander!  Such 
is  their  youth — such  their  quickness  to  draw 
and  cross  steel,  that  they  couHd  not  have  known 
what  grave  offence  they  did!  Who  has  not  seen 
such  striplings  jostle,  exchange  high  words 
and  whip  out  their  blades  upon  a  trifle!  they 
gash  one  another;  they  are  carried  into  th  > 
apothecary's — both  are  sound  in  a  week,  and 
they  are  better  friends  than  before! 

"But  in  these  hands — Cod  bless  them!  is  the 
power  to  save  two  young  heads  which  may  be 


436  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

those  of  famous  soldiers  or  statesmen  here- 
after— surely  to  your  Majesty's  renown,  and  in 
your  service.  If  you  speak  the  one  blessed 
word,  I  shall  admire — worship  you!  Mercy! 
pardon!  O  Lord,  who  hath  given  us  women 
strong  hearts  but  weak  tongues,  hadst  Thou 
endowed  me  with  eloquence,  how  plainly  Thou 
wouldst  see  the  King  saying:  'This  Didier  may 
not  be  considerable,  vet  he  is  the  soul  for  this 
pleader,  and  she  should  be  comforted' — Oh!" 

Stifling,  while  trying  to  regain  coolness  with 
her  respiration,  she  made  a  sign  of  beseeching, 
from  seeing  which  Bellegarde  turned  aside, 
deeply  affected,  muttering: 

"A  feeble  tongue?  no  eloquence?  Ha!  you 
will  see  that  Marion  with  her  feeble  tongue 
will  do  more  for  her  client  than  Nangis,  albeit 
the  latter  had  brought  all  the  warsmen  of  his 
four  baronies  to  back  his  lost  suit!" 

But  the  duke  was  wrong;  Louis  was  strange- 
ly troubled  but  not  relenting;  it  seemed  won- 
der and  curiosity  moving  him,  concerning  this 
enchanting  creature  in  distress.  Not  often 
were  solicitors  before  him  allowed  to  shed  tears 
so  genuine  and  unrestricted. 

"How  named  you  this  dame?"  he  inquired  of 
his  Master  of  Ceremonies. 

Marion  had  dreaded  this  inquiry,  for  she 
hastily  interrupted : 

"A  sister  of  the  man  in  duress,  under  the 
scaffold's  shadow,  whose  only  advocate  is 
trembling  at  your  feet.  Oh,  sire,  you  owe  the 
deed  of  mercv  to  your  subjects!" 

"Sooth!  T  owe  justice  to  all,"  the  King  re- 
sponded, a  lump  in  his  throat  making  it  hard 
to  speak — one  which  his  infallible  elixir  did 
not  remove.    "The  duello  is  making  more  bar 


Oii,  1UC1IELIEU  DEFIED.  13? 

rowing  ravages  in  my  realm  than  the  pesti- 
lence!" 

"Pity  is  called  for,"  persisted  Marion. 

"Examples  are  called  for!"  retorted  the  mon- 
arch, seeming  to  find  pleasure  in  showing  stern- 
ness to  one  who  visibly  impressed  him. 

So  severe  was  this  sentence  that  the  woman 
was  momentarily  silenced,  which  seeing,  Nan- 
gis  struck  in  with  his  quavering  voice: 

"My  lord,  consider  that  they  are  boys  of 
twenty — why,  their  ages  united  would  not 
make  half  mine  own!" 

Louis  was  regarding  the  kneeling  suppliant 
as  though  unable  to  take  away  the  glance. 

"Your  Majesty  should  have  pity  for  a  sister 
— that  unfortunate's  only  relative.  He  never 
knew  parents  or  family!  You  have  a 
mother — " 

Spite  of  his  schooling,  Louis  made  a  grimace, 
reflected  by  the  duke. 

"You  are  wedded!" 

This  time,  the  hearers  were  on  their  guard; 
they  did  not  wince  at  the  continued  awkward 
allusions. 

"In  your  breast  there  is  some  one  to  love — 
a  brother!  Oh,  have  pity  on  a  sorrowing  sis- 
ter:" 

"A  brother,"  replied  the  King,  perhaps  not 
regretting  this  opportunity  to  thrust  at  the 
rebellious  Gaston  through  his  adherent,  the 
duke,  while  he  frowned.  "Why,  no — stop! 
Yes!"  he  added,  with  a  cruel  smile,  "we  have  a 
brother!*'     So  Abel  might  recall  Cain. 

It  was  the  worst  argumenl  the  poor  appli- 
cant had  offered;  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans  was 
all  his  life  type  of  the  sovereign's  brother  who 
.  ovets  the  birthright. 

Louis  glanced  round  to  find  a  dog  to  tlirov 


438     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

a  stone  at,  so  to  say.  Jester  Langely,  by  means 
of  his  master-key,  had  stolen  in,  but  was  muf- 
fled up  in  a  window  curtain;  Bellegarde  was  a 
painted  statue;  the  irate  ruler's  eyes  fell  on 
Nangis,  who,  in  despair  at  all  failing,  had 
clapped  his  hand  with  a  war-like  gesture  upon 
his  sword-hilt. 

"How  now!"  vociferated  the  King,  "are  we 
besieged?  are  you  a  peer  of  the  realm — the 
Lord  High  Constable  re-instated?  that  you 
carry  a  deadly  weapon  in  our  presence?  Who 
committed  this  oversight  to  the  regulations? 
Because  we  are  in  our  brother's  castle,  is  that 
a  reason  for  license  ordering  things  as  he  does 
when  at  home?" 

"My  poor  old  friend,"  thought  the  duke;  "his 
pride  has  undone  all  that  beauty  gained!" 

Luckily,  Nangis  said  nothing  and  let  his 
hand  fall  respectfully. 

But  it  was  not  so  easy  to  appease  the  en- 
raged monarch,  who  sought  any  pretext  to  re- 
sist the  beauty's  plea — acquiescence  in  which, 
he  imagined,  would  be  set  down  to  an  instan- 
taneous infatuation — so  oddly  constituted  was 
Louis  the  Chaste! 

"Enough!  again,  enough!"  his  voice  strong- 
ly speaking  as  ire  overcame  the  chronic  cough. 
"Get  you  home  on  your  manor  to  enjoy  your 
peculiar  rights!  But  leave  us  to  deal  out  jus- 
tice on  our  ground,  where  we  are  the  Justice!" 

He  spoke  with  majesty,  but  Nangis  did  not 
quail  because  of  him;  it  was  Marion's  eyes  he 
was  afraid  to  meet;  shivering  as  in  a  cold 
wind,  he  turned  very  red  but  instantly  blanched 
alarmingly,  saying  in  a  tone  which  was  touch- 
ing though  haughty  still: 

"Sire,  in  your  father's  name,  bear  in  mind 
thrir  youth,  and  how  much  they  have  already 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  439 

suffered  for  their  deed!     Remark  the  old  sol- 
dier's  pride,  broken  at  your  feet!    Mercy!'' 

The  King  made  so  choleric  a  gesture  in  re- 
fusal that  the  marquis  sprang  up  as  though 
impaled.  But  again  remembering  his  errand, 
he  said  in  a  slow  and  well-contained  tone: 

"I  was  the  brother-inarms  of  your  father, 
the  Father  of  all  of  us  in  the  realm.  I  rode 
beside  the  coach  when  that  monster  drove  his 
knife  home  in  his  heart.  God  'a'  mercy!" 
Stopping,  his  convulsed  countenance  was  hid 
in  his  wrinkled  hands,  and  while  the  King 
shuddered,  the  Duke  of  Bellegarde  closed  his 
fists  as  if,  too,  in  his  eyes,  the  regicide  was 
re-enacted. 

"As  was  my  duty,  I  stood  on  guard  over  my 
dead  liege  in  the  night.  Sire,  I  have  seen  my 
own  father,  alas!  and  my  brothers,  six,  go 
down  in  the  dust,  in  the  shock  of  clashing  fac- 
tions !  I  have  moreover  lost  the  wife  who  loved 
me.  Thus,  the  old  man  whom  you  behold  is 
like  the  culprit  bound  to  the  wheel,  whose 
limbs  are  broken  by  the  executioner  during  a 
whole  day.  One  by  one,  the  Lord  hath  broken 
my  limbs  as  with  an  iron  bar,  and,  lo!  the 
end  of  the  torture-time  is  coming!" 

He  laid  his  tremulous  hand  on  his  heart  as 
though  the  monarch's  repeated  refusals  had 
struck  it  fatally.  He  made  a  low  bow,  and  as 
though  addressing  the  Crown  and  not  its  tem- 
porary wearer,  he  added  mournfully  but  with 
perfect  sincerity: 

"God  save  your  dread  Grace!" 

Slowly  he  went  forth  and  with  stateliness, 
smoothing  his  features  so  thai  the  most  acute 
courtier  in  the  outer  chamber  could  not  discern 
the  outcome  of  his  mission. 

"A  bad  day!"  said  the  wise  ones,  scenting 


440     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

mischief,  for  misfortune  has  its  aroma  like 
all  deadly  things,  even  if  they  could  not  draw 
an  augury,  "a  bad  day  for  seeking  favor.  Be- 
ginning with  signing  death-warrants,  and  with 
this  shower  damping  the  prospects  of  hunting, 
'ware  to  rouse  the  sullen  hound!" 

In  Nangis'  rear,  these  prudently  withdrew. 

In  this  interval,  Marion,  seeing  her  cham- 
pion depart,  forgetting  her,  hastened  to  forgive 
him,  judging  what  his  grief  must  be.  She  rose 
to  make  her  own  retreat  good,  but  her  powers 
failed  her.  She  thought  of  Didier  in  his  dun- 
geon, although  perhaps  more  than  ever  averse 
to  receiving  the  unobtainable  pardon,  and  she 
sank  like  a  dying  one,  in  a  recess,  where  the 
curtains  draped  her  almost  from  view. 

Louis  dashed  away  a  tear  furtively  as  he 
watched  the  disconsolate  marquis  go  out.  He 
turned  to  his  Master  of  Ceremonies  and  said: 

"A  monarch  must  rein  himself  tightly  not 
to  show  weakness.  That  old  warrior  smote  me 
to  the  heart,  believe  me!  A  figure  from  Mon- 
strelet!  believe  me  shaken,  but — no  pardons 
will  be  granted  this  day!'" 

He  stared  into  vacancy  as  though  enrapt  by 
a  lovely  vision,  and  after  a  silence,  while  a 
faint  smile  flitted  over  the  blistered  lips,  he 
continued,  in  the  unusual  confidence  inspiring 
him  this  morning: 

"I  have  committed  a  sin  to-day'/' 

"Bless  us!"  thought  Bellegarde.  "Marion  has 
made  him  break  the  Commandment!  Had  she 
persisted,  she  would  have  plucked  the  golden 
fruit  which  the  dotard  failed  to  grasp!" 

King  Louis  rose  and  drew  the  duke  into  a 
nook,  with  his  mania  for  precaution. 

"You  must  take  heed,  my  lord,  since  yon 
.spoke  such  audaClQUS  matters  to  me  just  now 


OR,  RlCHELlEO  DEFIED  '  I  I 

rt  may  do  you  an  injury  on  the  <  )ardinal's  pari . 
after  I  slmll  repeat  onr  conversation  to  him 
i his  evening.     1  am  sorry  for  you!" 

"Is  this  his  mode  of  punishing  me  for  wink- 
ing at  his  brother's  faulty  schemes?"  sus- 
piciously muttered  the  uneasy  confidant. 
"Pshaw!  he  is  too  much  an  Italian  to  warn  me 
it'  he  intended  to  sting!  he  may  repeat  my 
words,  but  he  will  not  give  a  name  to  the  ut- 
terer!" 

He  looked  warily  at  the  King,  but  the  latter 
was  yawning,  and  saying  to  himself:  "What  a 
had  night  I  had!  and  what  a  restless  one  I 
am  doomed  to!" 

He  beckoned  to  Langely  to  approach,  and 
said  to  the  Master  of  the  Household: 

••Send  all  away!  I  wish  to  be  alone  the  rest 
of  the  day!" 

Although  Langely  had  seen  Marion  fall  with- 
in the  recess,  he  had  said  nothing,  and  tin' 
King  was  unaware  that  she  had  not  gone  out 
with  Lord  Nangis.  But  Bellegarde  noticed  her 
black  gown  jarring  with  the  curtains'  gold  and 
purple,  and  went  to  her,  stooping  and  whisper 
ing: 

"What  are  you  doing  here,  still,  clinging  to 
that  pilaster  like  a  statue?  You  must  not  lin- 
ger, after  the  King's  order  to  be  left  alone! 
fin-  the  fool  does  not  count!  My  mateless  dove, 
you  must  go  and  mourn  elsewhere!" 

"lam  waiting  for  my  death-stroke!"  returned 
the  woman,  in  a  voice  the  more  pitiful  as  it  was 
without  animation. 

Bellegarde  would  have  insisted,  but  Langeh 
touched  his  arm  and  said  in  a  tone  which  the 
peer  had  never  heard  from  him  before: 

"Let  her  be.  duke:" 


442         Red  robe  and  grey  robe-. 

The  noble  frowned,  but  Langely  was  a  gen- 
tleman born,  and  he  appeared  in  his  senses. 

"Stay!"  continued  the  jester  to  the  woman, 
in  as  lordly  an  accent. 

The  courtier  looked  to  see  what  the  King 
would  do  on  perceiving  this  discussion,  but 
the  master  had  returned  to  his  easy  chair  in 
which  he  had  settled  down  so  as  to  be  almost 
lost  to  sight;  from  time  to  time,  he  heaved  a 
sigh  or  coughed. 

"I  salve  my  conscience  of  it!"  said  the  of- 
ficial; "to  mv  mind,  she  had  best  haste  to  mv 
Lord  Cardinal!" 

Taking  his  arm  with  familiarity,  Langely 
pushed  him  to  the  door,  and  by  tapping  with 
his  lean  forefinger  on  his  forehead,  high  and 
bald,  intimated  that  he  had  trust  in  his  wit. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  443 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

TIIE  JESTER'S  RUSE. 

Moved  by  curiosity  not  unmixed  with  hope, 
the  idol  of  Didier,  rising  but  still  veiling  her- 
self by  the  tapestry,  fastened  her  eyes  on  the 
intervener  at  this  junction  of  two  scenes:  one 
of  grief  and  despair — the  other  she  did  not 
dare  to  forecast. 

Out  of  the  luxurious  cushions  came  the 
King's  whining  voice,  calling  for  his  jester. 

The  summoned  one  strode  to  him  and  looked 
down  on  the  collapsed  figure,  frothing  at  the 
mouth  from  a  lozenge  for  which  he  had  aban- 
doned Dr.  Letellier's  elixir. 

"Hither,  boy!"  said  he  in  a  lachrymose  voice. 
"My  heart  is  sick  with  the  bitterness  overflow- 
ing it!  These  walls  seem  to  exude,  with  their 
damp,  some  of  that  evil  spirit  with  which  Gas- 
ton impregnates  wheresoever  he  abides,  even 
as  the  toad  swelters  its  cavity  with  venom. 
1  would  have  liked  tears  to  flow,  upon  that  old 
man's  sorrow,  but  they  would  not  come,  any 
more  than  smiles  upon  my  arid  mouth.  EV11 
at  your  gibes,  and  they  are  fine  ones,  smiles 
come  not." 

Langely  made  a  prolonged  bow,  saying: 

"Oho!  somewhiles,  1  make  Louis,  bight  the 
Saturnine,  unwrinkle,  is  it  so?" 

"You  are  never  daunted  by  my  majesty! 
Send  into  my  soul  a  sparkle  of  yonr  gaiety!" 

The  fool  seemed  to  be  torturing  his  brain  for 
a  witticism,  but  to  his  hearer's  astonishment, 


444     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

when  he  spoke,  it  was  in  a  lugubrious  key,  and 
his  words  were: 

"Is  not  life  a  bitter  thing?" 

"Alack!"  sighed  the  King,  in  sympathy,  and 
pleased  after  all  that  his  merry-maker  had  not 
indulged  in  mirth  counter  to  his  dejection. 

"And  man  is  but  an  ephemeral  breath!'' 

"Nothing  more!" 

"I  prithee,  tell  me,  is  not  man  a  doubly  un- 
fortunate creature  when  a  monarch,  to  boot?" 

"It  is,  certainly,  a  double  burden!" 

"Rather  than  vainly  busy  oneself  with  this 
empty  life,  it  were  better  to  lie  in  the  tomb 
where  the  stillness  is  unbroken?" 

"I  have  often  said  the  same!"  said  the  young 
misanthrope,  with  a  martyr-like  air. 

"There  is  no  happiness,  therefore,  but  to  the 
unborn  and  the  dead!  Man  alive  is  condemned 
to  misery?" 

In  her  ambush,  Marion  feared  that  she  had 
made  a  mistake.  If  she  closed  her  eyes,  she 
could  imagine  that  she  was  hearing  the  ruler 
with  his  confessor,  not  buffoon.  She  began 
to  be  alarmed,  for  the  consequences  might  be 
serious  of  overhearing  the  King  in  his  rare 
moments  of  unbosoming  himself.  As  with 
Queen  Elizabeth,  the  next  step  to  enjoying  the 
royal  expansion  of  soul  was  upon  the  scaffold! 

"How  you  please  me,  talking  in  this  strain, 
to-day,"  observed  the  rueful  monarch,  with  a 
misanthrope's  relish  on  seeing  a  funeral  pass 
when  he  expected  a  wedding  procession. 

"Tell  me,  gossip,"  went  on  Langely,  sit  ting- 
on  one  arm  of  the  chair,  and  swinging  his  long 
foot  as  if  to  point  his  periods,  "think  yon  there 
is  any  getting  out  of  the  grave,  once  one  is 
cold  cased  within  it  ?" 

"We  are  to  learn  that  hereafter,"  rejoined 


again : 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  445 

the  royal  philosopher,  becoming  more  and  more 
gruesome.    ""I  would  1  were  there!" 

"Phew!"  said  Langely,  "how  you  gallop!  You 
arc  downright  unhappy!  any  fool  can  sec  that! 

Look  at  your  looks!  eye  those  hollow  eyes  of 
thine!  ink  would  leave  a  whitish  mark  on  your 
suit  of  sables!  and  your  thin  face — a  model  for 
a  war-hatchet,  in  case  you  forge  novel  weapons 

I  shall  do  so  no  more!  How  invent — how 
work  when  all  is  so  dreary?  Be  off,  Langely, 
and  seek  a  new  master,  for  your  labor  is  en- 
tirely lost  on  me!  There  must  be  a  more  lively 
livelihood  than  to  wear  my  colors,  craped  as 
they  are,  and  jest  without  fruit !  a  pretty  craft, 
to  be  the  King's  Fool!  Your  bells  jangle  out 
of  tune;  you  are  merely  a  puppet,  cast  down 
and  taken  up  as  the  humor  goeth!  your  laugh 
has  grown  so  stale  that  it  resembles  a  grin! 
What  are  you  doing  down  there,  on  the  floor? 
your  playing  is  over!     Why  do  you  exist V 

"Pooh!  1  live  out  of  curiosity — to  view  wis<- 
men  committing  greater  follies  than  dreamt 
under  my  cap-and -bells!  Come  to  this  point,1" 
spoke  Langely  with  professional  boldness,  ad- 
dressing crowned  heads  more  candidly  than 
the  late  Dame  Rose's  "Well  of  Truth;"  "why 
do  you  care  to  live?  Marry!  I  am  compassion- 
ate towards  you,  with  all  my  heart!  I  would 
sooner  be  a  puppet  than  such  a  ruler!  1  grant 
mvself  to  be  a  doll  of  which  you  hold  the  string. 
but  your  royal  robe  conceals — imperfectly — a 
finer  string,  held  by  a  mightier  hand!  For  my 
part,  I  prefer  being  a  puppet  in  a  king's  hand 
to  one  in  a  priest's!" 

Tacitly  acknowledging  the  scorn  in  the  al- 
lusion, although  common  to  him  and  his  no- 
bles, the  hearer  let  a  pause  pass   before  he 


446  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

spoke.  Langely  had  prolonged  a  laugh  at  his 
own  pleasantry,  since  his  auditor  had  not 
helped  him  therewith. 

"You  are  mocking,  but  you  speak  truly!  he 
is  an  infernal  character!  Does  not  the  tale  run 
that  Satan  came  on  earth  and  reigned  some- 
where as  a  king?" 

The  melancholy  Louis  revelled  in  stories  of 
diablerie. 

"Almost  a  king,  Majesty!  he  reigned  in  Man- 
tua as  the  duke  paramount,  which  is  gravely 
set  forth  in  the  archives  of  that  duchy,  saith 
Father  Carre,  who  lives  as  much  in  Italy  as 
France." 

"Carre,  the  Cardinal's  confessor?" 

"And  mine,"  replied  Langely,  without  a 
smile.  "Such  is  fame!  Verily,  he  is  prouder 
to  be  cited  at  court  as  my  confessor,  than  the 
Cardinal's." 

Louis  did  not  hear;  he  was  considering,  and 
said : 

"If  Satan  could  be  a  duke,  why  not  a  pre- 
mier?" 

"A  cardinal!"  and  Langelv  shook  his  head  at 

CD  %J 

a  surmise  beyond  his  folly. 

"All  the  same,  I  would  rather  be  your  Min- 
ister's fool  than  his  confessor." 

"May  he  not  be  the  demon  possessing  me?" 
queried  the  other,  not  only  crossing  himself 
but  making  the  sign  against  the  Evil  Eye,  he- 
reditary in  the  Medici  family. 

"Mine  own  idea!  on  second  thoughts!"  cried 
the  jester. 

"But,  peace!  it  must  be  a  sin  to  talk  so 
lightly  of  our  Arch-Enemy!" 

"On  the  contrary,  we  must  jeer  at  him  and 
show  that  we  do  not  hold  him  in  fear." 

Distant  thunder  rumbled   under  the  earth 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  447 

and   ;i   gusl    of   wind   sent    a    puff   in  at    some 
chinks  so  that  the  tapestry  waved  and  its  lit" 
sized  figures  appeared  imbued  with  life. 

"Very  true  was  tliat  astrologer,  La  Riviere, 
who  prophesied  thai  the  Thirteenth  Louis 
would  have  miseries  beaded  upon  him  as  pearls 
upon  a  Lady's  bertha!  A  man — a  youth  of  but 
thirty-live — and  all  fails  me.  as  though  I  had 
the  untenacious,  palsied  hand  of  the  aged! 
Spain  presented  me  with  trained  cormorants, 
from  Cathay—" 

"Cormorants?"  queried  the  jester.  "Me- 
thought,  by  their  prodigious  swallow,  they 
were  mere  courtiers." 

"They  are  highly  esteemed  there,"  con- 
tinued Louis;  "I  brought  them  here  to  see 
them  catch  tisli — and  the  gorged  carp  will  not 
rise  near  the  surface!  The  chase?  That  de- 
mon Gaston,  my  kill-joy,  my  spoil-sport!  in- 
vited a  band  of  madcaps  from  town  who  have 
so  beaten  the  Forest  bushes  that — behold!  not 
a  heron  stands  in  a  quiet  pool — not  a  bittern 
booms  on  the  sedge!  Hunting,  where  the  rain 
converts  the  plain  into  a  sea!  Fishing,  where 
the  waters  run  bank-high,  and  turbid  to  excess! 
By  the  bones  of  St.  Gris — oh,  saint,  you  have 
clothed  all  the  landscape  with  grey  indeed!" 

"With  grease  rather!"  corrected  Langely, 
at  the  window;  "see,  the  guards  are  changing, 
though  up  to  the  fetlock  in  mud!" 

"Truly,  my  horoscope  was  undeniable!  I  am 
doomed  to  unhappiness!" 

"Aye,  our  life-web  is  a  black  cloth,  sparsely 
sprinkled  with  spangles!"  added  the  jester. 

"Is  there  to  be  no  alleviation — no  consola- 
tion?" stammering  and  faltering  for  a  word, 
as  occurred  to  Louis  in   his  dark  moods. 

"I  d-d-doubt  it!-'  replied  the  other,  not  fear- 


448  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

ing  to  mock  him.  "One  by  one  go  the  con- 
solers! With  Baradas  went  the  finest  hunting- 
horn  player  of  the  day!  With  Chalais,  Master 
of  your  Wardrobe — by  my  fay!  he  was  its  mas- 
ter, for  he  wore  more  of  the  habits  than  your- 
self! with  him,  disappeared  the  finest  hand  at 
setting  a  plume  or  matching  colors!  And  what 
a  marvel  in  training  dogs  was  poor  Haran!" 

Louis  sighed  at  each  name,  favorites,  whom 
he  had  allowed  to  be  sacrificed,  after  the  man- 
ner of  Charles  L,  surrendering  his  Straffords. 

"And  now,"  said  the  congenial  Jeremiah, 
with  emphasis  showing  that  he  had  arrived  at 
his  point,  "we  are  going  to  lose  the  last  ex- 
perts in  the  noble  art  of  hawking!" 

"Eh?"  cried  the  King,  rising  in  his  chair, 
with  his  eye  suddenly  sparkling. 

"I  know  that  you  rate  it  a  virtue  that  a  fel- 
low should  track  ground  birds,  but,  St.  Hubert 
hear  me!  what  is  all  your  butchery  of  quail 
and  partridge  to  following  the  heron,  on  a  swift 
and  sure-footed  steed,  over  the  plain,  with  your 
gaze  on  clear  sky  where  the  Long-legs  streaks 
it,  like  the  swan's  wake  in  the  pool !  Huzza  for 
hawking,  say  I!" 

Hurling  etiquette  to  the  winds,  Langely  gave 
out,  full-lunged,  the  falconer's  exultant  shout 
on  seeing  his  hawk  sight  the  prey  and  direct 
himself  towards  it. 

Louis  echoed  the  cry.  resting  his  arms  on  the 
chair-arms.  Color  flew  to  his  sallow  cheeks, 
and  his  lips  seemed  to  plump  out  with  a  rare 
smile. 

"Right,  boy,  a  falconer  is  a  demigod!"  said 
he,  quivering  with  rapture. 

"By  my  halidom,  this  twain  will  be  made 
wholly  immortals  in  a  short  stretch!"  said  the 
jester  with  a  doleful  mien. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  449 

"What  twain?" 

-The  falconers!" 

"Two  falconers  to  lose  their  life?"  continued 
the  interested  King. 

"Two  most  famous!" 

"For  mercy's  sake,  of  what  are  you  prating?" 

"Why,  those  two  springalds  for  whom  the 
old  noble  and  the  passably-good-looking  sister 
pleaded — uselessly!" 

"Say,  beautiful!    but  that  was  Saverny?" 

"One  is  Saverny,  your  page  who  evaded  his 
duties  when  he  found  you  did  not  value  fal- 
conry— ■" 

"1!  who  dote  on  it!  And  this  other,  Didier 
of  Blois?" 

"Arcades   ambo — falconers  both!" 

"Falconers?" 

"I  say  it!  Saverny  learnt  the  art  of  glorious 
Troussegaine." 

"Alias,  le  Falconet?" 

"Precisely,  than  whom  never  breathed  a  bet- 
ter adept  at  flying:  the  long-distance  hawk!" 

"I  hear  you,  and  agree!"  said  the  King,  lis- 
tening spellbound. 

"As  for  the  devotee  of  the  gentle  art  from 
Blois,  his  instructor  was  the  renowned  Mat- 
thew, of  Xovicastruni — " 

"Eh?" 

"A  town  of  England,  where  falconers  have 
been  reared  from  time  out  of  mind — who  drive 
amateurs  out  of  their  mind!"  went  on  Langely, 
more  and  more  impressively.  "I  have  read  that 
King  Henry  the  Eighth  of  that  realm,  before 
he  waxed  portentous  in  girth,  would  have  no 
other  birds  in  his  collection  save  from  Xovi- 
castruni, and  that  his  daughter  Elizabeth, 
though  not  warmly  addicted  to  the  sport,  so 
beloved  their  successor  that  she  would  chase 


450     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  herons  in  Roniney  Marshes,  and  created 
her  chief -falconer  governor  of  Tilbury  Fort!1' 

"Our  King,  of  her  times,  lost  a  treasure  in 
not  marrying  her  when  he  proposed!"  ex- 
claimed Louis,  but  relapsing,  he  wailed:  "What 
a  calamity!  my  kingdom  to  lose  two  such  fly- 
ers of  the  gallant  bird,  and  the  art  with  them! 
Out  on  that  vexatious  duel !  When  I  shall  have 
crossed  the  Styx,  I  may  meet  them  hunting  the 
Stygian  birds!  Meanwhile,  all  will  go  before 
me,  arts  and  delights!  What  did  the  hotheads 
fight  a  duel  about?" 

Langely  glanced  over  towards  the  peeping 
Marion,  who  made  him  a  sign  of  caution.  But 
his  reassuring  nod  bespoke  he  had  his  reply 
ready. 

"Oh,  one  sustained  that  the  Peruvian  Alet 
is  finer  for  chasing  the  ganet  than  the  gavi- 
lan!" 

"He  was  wrong,"  gravely  pronounced  the 
sovereign,  "but  it  was  in  no  case  a  hanging 
matter!" 

Marion  faintly  smiled  and  Langely  repeated 
the  encouraging  nod. 

"But,"  proceeded  the  King,  after  a  pause, 
"my  right  to  pardon  was  relinquished  in  these 
cases.  The  Cardinal  says  I  am  always  too 
lenient!" 

Langely  smiled  to  himself,  as  Tacitus  might 
on  hearing  Nero  boast  of  humanity. 

"It  is  my  Lord  Cardinal  who  determines  that 
duellists  shall  die." 

"Sire,  what  say  you?"  demanded  the  fool 
point-blank,  raising  his  voice  to  cover  a  sigh 
within  the  window  bay. 

"Duellists  must  die!"  returned  the  King,  af- 
ter some  reflection,  in  which  regret  struggled 
slightly  with  terror  of  the  Prime  Minister. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  451 

"That  being  so,"  summed  up  Langely,  "good- 
bye to  hawking!" 

As  if  his  suit  were  over,  he  wandered  to  the 
window  farthest  from  that  where  the  weeping 
woman  was  ensconced,  and  looking  out,  sud- 
denly interjected: 

"Gossip,  what  is  this?" 

"Has  it  stopped  raining?"  counter-queried 
the  other,  rousing  from  a  return  to  reverie. 

"No,  but  I  beg  you  to  come  and  look  at  this 
sight." 

"What,  what!  have  they  caught  that  poacher 
whom  I  saw  stealing  along  beneath  the 
1  iceches?''  Louis  paced  with  dragging  foot  to 
the  caller.  "Still  pouring,  on  my  royal  word!" 
grumbled  he.  "For  constancy  of  rule,  Aqua- 
rius outrates  Jupiter.  What  is  it?  I  do  not 
like    the   1-1-lightning!" 

"They  are  relieving  the  footguards  now," 
said  the  jester,  pointing  out  of  the  cloudy 
glass  which  diverted  the  King's  wandering, 
frightened  glance  from  Marion  perdu. 

"Well,  is  that  all  you  dragged  me  hither 
for?"  snarled  the  King,  blinking  as  another 
Hash  striped  the  heavens. 

Langely  coolly  wiped  the  steam  off  the  pane 
with  the  costly  curtains. 

"Who  is  that  tall  rogue  with  gold  galloon 
stripes  on  his  sleeves?"  asked  he. 

"His  name  is  the  best  of  him — he  is  a  Mont- 
hardi — but  he  is  no  more  than  the  guards  cor- 
poral." 

"Monthardi  is  taking  a  man  off  the  board 
and  putting  another  in  his  stead.  What  is  he 
whispering  to  the  new  pawn?" 

"The  password:  'Melrose,'  with  'Met ops'  as 
countersign — I  invented  them!  This  is  an  old 
story.    Buffoon,  why  do  you  pester  us  with  such 


452  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

worn-out  stuff?    What  are  you  shooting  at?" 

"Just  to  this,"  solemnty  responded  the  fool, 
in  that  deep  tone  often  making  churchmen  say 
that  an  excellent  sermoniser  was  lost  under  his 
cap.  "Over  this  earth,  kings  are  posted  as  sen- 
tinels. Instead  of  a  pike,  they  are  weaponed 
with  a  sceptre.  When  they  have  walked  up 
and  down  so  many  times  on  their  weary  round, 
the  Corporal  of  the  Guard  of  Monarchs,  Death, 
to  wit,  he  puts  another  sceptre-bearer  in  the 
place  of  each,  and  to  the  new-comer  he  whis- 
pers the  word: — " 

"It  is—" 

"Clemency!"  returned  the  jester,  still  more 
solemnly. 

"Your  account  is  correct,  saving  the  word, 
which  is  wrong:  it  is  'Justice,'  my  poor  dul- 
lard! That  makes  it  hard  on  those  two  poor 
falcaeers;  for  they  must  die,  though — ah,  me! 
it  is  a  grievous  loss!" 

"They  must  die,  certes!  like  your  Majesty 
and  I  myself!  Mighty  or  mean,  Death  calls 
away  all  with  equal  strictness,  and  consigns 
them  to  the  black-hole.  But  however  packed 
away,  the  dead  rest  at  their  ease.  But  in  this 
life,  how  the  Cardinal-duke  chafes  you  and 
weighs  upon  you!  Stay  a  moment,  my  lord! 
One  of  these  days,  in  the  month  of  the  year 
fore-written,  we  shall  all  be  sleeping,  I,  the 
fool,  you,  the  King,  he,  the  master!  Proud 
though  one  may  be,  great  as  man  may  swell 
himself  upon  the  stupidity,  cowardice,  and 
slavishness  of  others,  none  occupies  more  than 
six  feet  in  the  grave.  Does  not  Richelieu  seem 
already  to  be  in  the  hearse,  in  that  grim  litter 
in  which  he  is  carried  about,  shoulder  high,  by 
a  dozen  men,  all  the  same  as  a  bier  is  borne  on 
its  barrow?" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  4  53 

The  silent  listener  shuddered  a1  this  dismal 
dialogue,  the  sun  of  merry  Benry  the  Fourth 
deriving  sombre  satisfaction  from  dilating  on 
death  and  its  trappings;  bis  tone  was  light 
with  warped  relict'  as  he  made  answer,  stroking 
his  broad  lace  collar  as  though  decorating  him- 
self for  lying  in  state: 

"Yea,  '  life  is  darksome,  and  the  grave 
breatheth  an  air  serene.  I  should  not  long  lin- 
ger before  its  portals  if  I  had  not  thee  to  en- 
liven me  a  little!" 

"Do  not  let  me  detain  your  Majesty!"  quick- 
ly observed  Langely,  with  burlesque  politeness. 
"I  looked  in  merely  to  bid  you  farewell!" 

"What  fare  welling  are  you  talking  about?" 
cried  the  King,  vexed  and  puzzled. 

"Only  that  I  am  going  to  leave  you  for  a  long 
while,  I  trust." 

"Leave  me!  for  a  long  time?''  reiterated 
Louis,  with  an  acute  pang  like  a  seaman's, 
when  a  wave  sweeps  bis  last  companion  in 
wreck  off  the  spar.  "What  folly!"  he  grasped 
his  onlv  friend  bv  the  sleeve.  "Nothing  but 
death  unlooses  the  servant  of  a  king!" 

"You  have  buried  the  arrow-head  in  the 
bull's-eye,  gossip!    I  am  about  to  die." 

A  peal  of  thunder  shook  the  great  elms  and 
their  dripping  leaves  cast  off  in  a  mass  their 
load  of  wet.  Out  of  a  hundred  fantastic 
mouths  of  the  gutters  the  deluge  poured  with  a 
monstrous  reverberation.  Louis  turned  more 
pale  and  shivered  to  the  core,  drawing  Langely 
to  him  as  one  sheep  huddles  up  to  another  in 
the  fold. 

"Are  yon  a  crack-brain,  in  earnest?"  whined 
he.    "Speak  out,  withoul  a  wretched  quip!" 

"I  am  condemned  to  death  by  the  King  of 
France  ami  Navarre." 


454  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"If  you  rail  at  my  death-decrees,  fool,  noth- 
ing can  be  sacred  to  you!'' 

"Sire,  I  lent  my  hand  to  that  duel  between 
those  two  gent — that  is  gentlemen-falconers. 
At  least,  I  lent  my  sword,  which  fought  in  the 
grip  of  one  of  them  and  wounded  the  other! 
Here  it  is!  I  surrender  it  to  your  Grace,"  and 
Langely  presented  the  blade  by  the  point,  as  if 
he  expected  to  be  knighted  or  beheaded,  the 
action  suiting  either  result. 

The  King  took  the  weapon  with  curiosity. 

"So  now,  you  have  been  wearing  a  real  sword 
in  our  presence,  the  attendants  letting  it  pass 
as  one  of  lath!  F  faith!"  he  made  a  few  passes 
over  the  kneeling  jester's  head,  "it  is  a  good 
one.  How  doth  my  merry-man  come  to  carry 
such  a  weapon?" 

"Sire,  being  a  gentleman,  I  aided  those  two 
of  my  sort  to  settle  their  difference.  Do  not 
make  any  difference  in  my  doom.  I  was  of  the 
party  and  must  pay  my  scot." 

"You  lent  your  sword?  Verily  you  have 
bound  yourself  to  the  penalty,  as  the  vervel 
(hawk's  label)  is  tied  to  the  bird.  My  poor 
Truepenny,  before  the  rope  is  put  round  your 
neck,  let  me  clasp  it  with  my  arm  once  more!" 

While  he  affectionately  embraced  Langely, 
the  latter  muttered  against  his  taking  the  sub- 
terfuge so  literally,  and  made  a  grimace  over 
the  royal  shoulder  so  grotesquely  that  at  anoth- 
er time  Marion  must  have  laughed.  But  she 
was  too  depressed  by  the  apparent  failure  of 
this  new  friend's  scheme. 

"A  true  monarch  never  is  opposed  to  justice," 
reasoned  Louis,  releasing  the  companion  of  his 
privacy  and  laying  the  sword  on  a  cushion, 
and  musing.  "But  it  is  very  harsh  that  the 
Cardinal's  wholesale  edict  should  impose  death 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  455 

on  two   falconers   and   my  own    Mirth-dies 
laughing!"    Be  walked  ap  and  down  the  large 
room,  agitated  deeply,  for  he  ran  his  flacoid 
hand  over  his  wrinkling  forehead, 

"For  merely  a  duel,"  resumed  he,  turning  an 
anxious  eye  upon  his  confidant.  "But,  come, 
come,  console  yourself,  jolly  soul!  Life  is  a 
sarcasm  at  which  the  grave's  open  mouth 
grins;  and  man  is  but  a  breath!" 

"Deuce  take  his  moralising,"  grumbled 
Langely,  watching  the  King  stalk  up  and  down 
in  agitation  belying  that  his  conclusion  was 
definite. 

"How  dumfounded  you  are!"  cried  the  lat- 
ter testily,  wheeling  round;  "you  can  be  in  no 
doubt  that  you  will  be  hanged!" 

The  victim  of  his  own  plot  was  frozen  with 
the  icy  perspiration  on  his  brow,  for  his  feint 
was  answered  by  a  severe  lunge. 

'it  looks  so,  unless  you  speak  the  barring 
word,"  stammered  he. 

"You  gone,  who  will  make  me  laugh?"  He 
laughed  indeed  at  remembrance  of  some  prank 
of  his  sworn  humorist,  but  the  notes  grated  on 
the  hitter's  ear.  "But  hark  ye!  jocund  one!  if 
sobeit  one  is  allowed  to  return  from  the  grave, 
come  you  to  me,  and  tell  us  what  you  ex- 
perienced. This  will  be  a  chance  for  you  to 
oblige  me,  and  haply  the  wroiid — aye — agape 
for  this  secret  of  secrets!" 

"The  idea  of  bearing  such  a  unique  message 
is  simply  delightful!"  sneered  Langely,  shak- 
ing his  head. 

"But  your  loss  will  be  such  a  triumph  for 
Cardinal  Armand!"  pursued  the  sovereign, 
still  perambulating,  with  side-glancing  at  his 
tormented  prey.  "Red  Stocking  will  have 
walked  over  the  Blue-striped  one!-' 


456       <      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

He  alluded  to  the  hose  the  jester  wore  in  for- 
mal livery  of  his  office.  The  other  allusiou  was 
to  Richelieu,  whose  limbs,  clothed  in  cardinal 
red,  it  was  said,  capered  in  the  ballets  at  court, 
or  even  once  performed  a  saraband  before 
Queen  Anna,  as  lively  as  Louis',  before  the 
one  had  shortness  of  breath  and  the  other  the 
gout. 

Langely's  countenance  had  settled  down  in 
so  reproachful  a  cast  that  the  observer  was 
touched  in  his  pride.  Color  came  to  his  sunk 
cheeks,  and  he  cried  with  an  imperious  air, 
while  a  wild  and  fitful  light  danced  in  his  hol- 
low eyes: 

"How  now!  do  vou  doubt,  that  I  mav  not — 
an'  I  would!  be  the  master!" 

"Rabelais  would  have  replied:  'Perhaps!' 
and  Montaigne:  'What  should  I  know  about 
that?'"  answered  Langely. 

Still  piqued,  seized  by  some  freakish  spirit  of 
generosity,  the  King  sat  down  at  the  table 
where,  that  same  morning,  he  had  appended 
his  signature  to  the  formal  writ  of  execution 
against  Marquis  Nazaire  de  Saverny  and  the 
Sire  Didier,.  to  the  gratification  of  Judge  Laf- 
femas.  With  rare  determination,  he  took  up  a 
quill,  and  trying  it  on  his  gnawed  nail,  said 
peremptorily: 

"Fool,  hand  me  a  sheet  of  parchment!" 

Langely  dropped  his  anxiety  and  apathy;  he 
sprang  to  the  table  end,  drew  a  clean  skin  for 
writing  from  a  drawer,  and  placed  it  flat  on  the 
board  before  his  master,  whose  hand  rested  on 
it,  tremulous  with  a  novel  emotion. 

"Am  I  going  to  be  ill?"  said  he,  gasping. 

"No,  you  are  going  to  do  good!"  retorted  the 
jester,  his  face  a  mask  of  the  Comic  Muse. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  457 

The  King  scribbled  a  few  lines  and  added  a 
tall  and  sprawling  "LOUI8,"  all  in  capitals. 

The  fool  had  the  wax  ready  at  the  lighted 
taper,  and  dropped  a  blob  on  the  vellum.  The 
writer  pressed  on  it  the  stamp  dangling  at  his 
belt,  and  the  pardon  for  the  two  duellists,  and 
their  aiders  and  abettors,  was  there,  good  as 
ever  the  royal  mandate  was. 

"I  pardon  the  trio!''  said  Louis,  leaning  back 
as  to  admire  himself. 

But  instantly  he  curled  up  out  of  his  grand 
attitude:  a  dazzling  flash  of  electricity  illu- 
minated the  innumerable  tree-tops,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  crash  of  a  struck  tree  and  the  thun- 
der. Langely  was  not  a  jot  staggered:  he  ran 
across  the  room,  and  plucking  Marion  out  of 
her  ambush,  he  said  to  her: 

"Lady  fair,  hasten!  go  down  on  your  knees 
to  his  tender  Majesty,  and  thank  him  for  having 
forgiven  us  three!" 

Marion,  from  whom  the  King  flinched  more 
than  he  had  from  the  lightning — and  seeming 
to  be  as  much  dazzled — dropped,  kneeling,  be- 
fore the  royal  chair,  muttering  thanks,  no 
doubt,  but  her  tongue  was  not  freely  unlocked, 
as  doubts  still  lingered,  though  she  had  closely 
watched  this  singular  game. 

"The  Fool  swept  the  board,"  remarked 
Langely,  chuckling,  "where  the  Knight  failed 
to  check  the  King!" 

"Whose  hands  am  I  to  kiss  for  the  boon?" 
demanded  she,  a  little  roguishly;  "yours  or  my 
gracious  lord's?" 

Louis  regarded  the  new-comer  with  less  as- 
tonishment and  more  apprehension  now.  He 
regretted  his  act,  fearing  that  he  had  fallen  in- 
to a  trap. 

Langely  meant  to  be  on  the  safe  side,  seeing 


458  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

his  frown.  The  donor  might  demand  the  par- 
don back;  so  he  handed  it  to  the  woman,  who 
kissed  it,  to  solve  the  dilemma  stated  by  her, 
and  thrust  it  within  her  stomacher. 

Angry  at  having  been  a  jester's  dupe,  all  in 
the  presence  of  a  young  woman,  Louis  recov- 
ered some  coolness  or  at  least  his  ill-nature. 
He  thrust  out  his  hand  and  said  in  a  vexed 
tone: 

"Hold,  madam,  one  instant!  I  require  that 
paper — " 

"Good  heavens!"  ejaculated  Marion,  in  dis- 
may; but  immediately,  with  a  return  of  her 
gay  spirits  as  she  felt  the  valuable  document 
on  her  heart,  she  said  with  archness: 

"The  King  must  be  obeyed,  but  never  will 
hand  of  mine  undo  a  good  action  of  his  Majesty! 
none  but  your  royal  hand  shall  touch  it!  Come, 
take  it,  but  with  it,  take  my  life!  it  is  dearer 
than  life  itself!" 

The  King,  who  had  risen  as  she  had  done, 
recoiled,  embarrassed. 

Langely  clapped  his  hands  together,  without 
making  a  sound,  and  whispered: 

"Hold  your  prize!  Do  not  be  alarmed!  Louis 
the  Chaste  will  not  attack  that  fort!" 

"G-g-give!"  stammered  the  monarch,  lower- 
ing his  eyes,  which  happened  to  be  caught  by 
Marion's. 

"T-t-take  it!"  cried  Marion,  mocking,  feeling 
impelled  to  out-brave  everything  at  this  mo- 
ment. 

Louis  rubbed  his  eyes  as  one  seeing  a  super- 
natural vision;  then  he  uttered  an  execration 
against  the  lightning,  as  if  that  blinded  him; 
knitting  his  brows,  he  woudered  what  siren 
was  conspiring  with  Langely  to  set  free  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  459 

duellists  and  also,  he  reflected,  to  embroil  him 
with  Ins  Minister? 

He  had  seen  pictures  of  the  famous  beauty  of 
his  reign,  but  all  was  hazy;  he  was  sure  thai 
she  had  never  been  presented  at  court,  and  this 
added  to  his  perplexity. 

"It  was  months,"  whispered  Langely,  in  the 
meantime,  "before  he  ventured  to  kiss  the 
Queen!" 

Without  raising  his  eyes  again  upon  his  vis- 
itress,  Louis  made  a  wave  of  the  hand,  im- 
perious but  not   unkind,   and   bade  her  "Be- 


gone 


r 


The  Mistress  of  Deportment  to  royal  prin- 
cesses could  not  have  outdone  her  elaborate 
eourtesy;  Mondori  would  say  it  was  worthy  of 
Ximena;  and  she  replied  with  noble  and  dulcet 
accent: 

"The  King  has  right  royally  done  his  part; 
let  me  properly  do  mine!  I  haste  to  liberate 
the  prisoners!"  At  the  door,  she  tottered  and 
turned  pale,  "If  M.  Laffemas — but  no!  heaven 
will  not  play  toss  with  our  suffering  hearts! 
Saints  and  Graces!  wing  me  to  outstrip  that 
hellhound!" 

She  flew  out  as  though  the  parchment  buoyed 
her;  so  different  from  her  manner  of  entrance, 
that  the  guards  smiled  and  sympathetically 
wished  her  "Goodspeed!" 

"Who  is  she?*'  marvelled  the  King,  closing 
his  eyes  as  though  to  retain  the  vision. 

"A  sister  of  one  of  those  falconers,"  Langely 
replied.  "Not  Saverny  but  t-  other's!  ah,  he  is, 
after  her  likeness,  a  handsome  blade,  who 
would  make  you  a  splendid  page!  and  a  fal- 
coner, too!" 

The  fool  did  nothing  by  halves;   after  secur- 


460     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

ing  Didier's  life,  lie  was  trying  to  secure  his 
future. 

"He  must  be  handsome — his  sister  is  lovely!" 
muttered  Louis.  "She  is  one  accustomed  to 
have  her  way!  Strange!  she  almost  made  me 
cower!  I  could  no  more  gaze  on  her,  steadily, 
you  know,  than  on  the  ethereal  fire!" 

Langely  smiled,  waiting,  not  at  ease  over  the 
final  result  of  his  deception. 

"Buffoon,  you  have  tricked  me!" 

"I  am  paid  to  do  that!" 

"You  stand  in  sore  need  of  a  special  pardon!" 

"Grant  it,  sire!"  said  the  jester  kneeling. 
"Every  pardon  is  so  much  weight  that  a  king 
relieves  himself  of  by  giving  it!" 

"You  speak  truly,  boy,"  said  Louis  solemnly. 
"You  know  that  it  grieves  me  to  see  the  Mont- 
faucon  execution-place.  For  old  Nangis  truth- 
fully spoke:  by  peopling  the  cemetery  where 
the  executed  repose,  with  their  severed  heads 
between  their  knees,  I  make  mv  palace  a  des- 
ert!" 

Again  he  betrayed  the  fever  of  his  mind  by 
walking  the  floor  as  in  insomnia. 

"My  Minister  committed  treason  in  wresting 
from  us  our  right  to  pardon  and  making  us  pub- 
licly relinquish  it.  Harry  the  Fourth's  son 
ought  to  be  merciful,  for  God  was  merciful  to 
him  and  many  times  in  stress  saved  his  dear 
life.  My  people  wail  to  see  me  shut  up — en- 
tombed by  this  man,  who  rolls  me  up  in  his 
rosy  robe  as  in  swaddling-clothes  or  a  winding- 
sheet!  I  am  no  better  than  a  king  dethroned, 
cast  down,  disarmed!  No,  no!"  he  cried  with 
vigor,  "I  could  not  suffer  those  two  gallants  to 
meet  an  ignominious  death!  Life  is  too  lovely 
for  them,  and  visibly  a  gift  of  heaven  to  be 
rashly  dashed  out  of  its  casket!    God  can  open 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  461 

the  grave,  for  Be  knoweth  what  this  life  is — 
hut  do  kin u  can:    They  shall  live  and  their  fam 
ilies  will  bless  me  for  having  re-stored  them.    I 
yearn  for  the  blessing  at'  that  old  hero  and  that 
beautiful  young  woman!" 

"Do  no1  forget  mine,  gossip!" 

"Al  all  events,  what  is  written,  is  written! 
especially  when  by  the  King's  hand.  You 
smirk,  deceiver!"  said  he,  turning  sharply  up- 
on the  jester  keeping  pace  with  him,  like  a  dog, 
a  step  in  the  rear,  "you  know  as  I  do  that  the 
Cardinal-dnke  will  be  furious!" 

"Ferocious!  his  wrath  may  kill  him!" 

"But  I  shall  have  given  you  pleasure  foi 
once,  who  so  many  times  has  exhilarated  this 
aching,  melancholy  heart!" 

"The  sky  is  clearing,"  broke  in  Langely,  to 
hide  his  emotion  at  the  King  showing  gratitude. 
"In  half  an  hour,  we  may  go  and  fish." 

"Pish,  after  a  rain  like  that?  the  swirling 
waters  will  render  fishing-gear  useless." 

"Well,  I  am  already  hand-in-glove  with  old 
Nezenlair,  the  poacher  whom  you  saw  sneaking 
through  the  woods.  He  possesses  an  infallible 
bait  for  the  carp,  which  would  lure  the  Fiend 
himself  from  his  hottest  fire  on  a  February 
night!  Come  out,  for  I  promise  your  Majesty 
a  carp  a  la — a  la — \Vatering-mouth,  of  my  own 
concoction,  which  would  appease  Qaragantua!" 

The  weather  brightened  up  as  if  sympathetic 
with  him.  Louis  bade  Langely  call  for  his  valet 
to  dress  him  for  the  outing. 

"Good!"  soliloquised  Langely,  as  he  donned 
high  boots  to  wade  in  the  mud.  "I  mean  to 
keep  the  King  out  of  his  Eminence's  way  until 
a  revocation  of  the  pardon  is  impossible.  His- 
tory  will  cite  one  instance   when   our  Louis, 


4G2     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Thirteenth  of  that  name,  behaved  royally — 
though  by  mistake!" 

As  he  returned  through  the  ante-room  there 
was  an  uproar.  The  courtiers  had  abandoned 
it,  but  a  small  group  filled  a  corner,  servants 
and  petty  nobles  wearing  a  serious  air. 

In  the  midst  were  two  ecclesiastical  digni- 
taries, one  of  whom  the  jester  immediately 
recognised. 

"The  Cardinal  in  Grey,  and  the  Bishop  of 
Autun,"  he  cried  out. 

"Say,  the  Bishop  in  grey,"  corrected  Joseph, 
owning  at  least  to  this  degree,  "and  the  Cardi- 
nal! I  humbly  come  to  present  my  father  of 
Autun,  hastening  to  thank  his  Majesty  on  his 
reception  of  the  Bed  Hat." 

While  the  courtiers  hurried  to  salute  his 
Grace  of  Autun,  Langely  unceremoniously  de- 
tached the  introductor  from  his  protege,  and 
drew  him  into  a  recess,  saying  in  a  low  voice: 

"Marion  Delorme  was  here  but  now!  she 
procured  the  pardon  of  Marquis  Saverny  and 
his  fellow-offender — " 

"Of  Didier?"  exclaimed  Joseph,  showing  in 
which  of  the  two  he  wras  the  more  interested. 

"She  hopes  to  outspeed  that  rogue  Laffe- 
mas!" 

"Too  late!  the  latter  is  off  post-haste  to  re- 
move the  culprits  to  Bueil." 

At  the  horrifying  word,  Langely  let  his  hands 
drop  in  despair. 

"All  is  lost,  then,"  groaned  he.  "What  Vil- 
lany  always  thrusts  his  baleful  spoon  into 
peaceful  porridge!" 

"Patience!  it  shall  be  withdrawn!"  said  Jos- 
eph who  had  recovered  his  calmness. 

But  the  assurance  did  not  remove  the  jester's 
expression  of  hopelessness. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  463 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

THE  MYSTERIES  OF  RUEIL. 

Langely  yielded  to  the  popular  belief  that 
Rueil,  spite  of  having  been  decorated  and  em- 
bellished into  splendor,  was  the  Cardinal's  fav- 
orite residence  for  satiating  an  extremely  vin- 
dictive nature,  which  age  and  ails  exacerbated. 
Far  from  its  vicinity,  tattlers  detailed  how  su- 
perb tapestries  muffled  perfidious  sliding  pan- 
els, soft  carpets  covered  traps  of  ingenious 
construction  and  supernatural  facility,  and  the 
solid  walls  were  pierced  with  Judas  traps  and 
Dionysius'  ears  for  the  use  of  spies. 

Everybody  knew  how  the  private  executions 
took  place. 

The  Eminent  host  would  have  a  silent  com- 
panion at  his  table,  together  with  the  fated 
guest.  This  dumb  feaster  was  the  executioner. 
After  the  repast,  sumptuous  and  provided  with 
exquisite  wines,  spite  of  prelatical  vows,  the 
host  would  point  out  an  inner  room  as  where 
the  important  confabulation  should  be  held. 
He  would  pass  out  through  a  door;  the  victim 
would  follow  at  his  gown's  hem,  with  the  heads- 
man bringing  up  the  rear.  At  a  certain  point, 
the  last  would  press  his  foot  on  a  spring  and  a 
trap  would  gape  at  the  feet — under  the  feet, 
in  fact,  of  the  dupe,  who  would  be  precipitated 
into  an  abyss,  where  horrors,  outdoing  those  in 
the  embrace  of  the  Virgin  of  Nuremberg,  clus- 
tered upon  him  till  he  perished. 

Absurd  as  these  tales  were,  we  see  that  even 


464     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

a  royal  jester  did  not  mock  at  them  when  told 
of  the  modern  Bluebeard  and  his  castle. 

To  this  den  of  terrors  Laffemas  had  spared 
no  expense — out  of  the  State  purse — to  remove 
his  prisoners  straightway  from  Nangis. 

Having  sent  them  into  secure  lodgings,  he 
ordered  workmen  to  open  a  breach  in  the  walls. 
He  did  not  state  the  reason  but  the  chief  do- 
mestics guessed. 

"That  gap,"  said  they,  their  pride  in  ability 
to  solve  one  enigma  outdoing  their  discretion, 
"it  is  for  the  entrance,  without  his  alighting,  of 
my  Lord  Cardinal,  for  he  comes  in  a  litter  since 
his  gout  cripples  him — he  will  be  carried 
straight  into  the  court-yard  where  the  scaffold 
will  be  erected." 

Others,  who  had  been  to  Paris,  described  the 
construction:  a  huge  catafalque-looking  bar- 
row, carried  by  a  score  or  two  of  men ;  draped 
with  red  curtains,  it  suggested,  said  a  facetious 
butler:   "Leviathan  wading  in  the  Red  Sea." 

With  a  view  of  frustrating  attempts  on  his 
patron's  life,  the  Lieutenant  of  Internal  Police 
perambulated  the  town,  cloaked  and  covered 
with  a  broad-brimmed  Spanish  hat. 

It  was  filling  with  curious  idlers,  expecting  to 
see  the  Cardinal  enter,  even  though  they  might 
not  witness  the  double  execution,  within  the 
chateau  walls. 

He  caught  scraps  of  conversation  at  inn 
doors,  but  even  this  chatter  was  guarded  as 
though  the  proximity  of  the  dread  abode  in- 
spired caution. 

"These  lords  commit  queer  crimes,"  said  one 
more  loquacious  haranguer  to  his  fellows,  at 
ihc  Cross-keys  Inn;  "they  come  to  blows  now 
and  then,  and  as  they  are  adepts  at  fencing, 
marry!   they  have  to  cast  dice  to  decide  who 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  465 

Khali  be  scratched!  rarely  do  they  kill,  bin 
when  they  do,  if  the  dying  is  spun  out,  why, 
they  prove  the  deed  is  heinous  by  slaying  the 
pair  of  them  officially!" 

The  audience  acquiesced  but  could  not  ex- 
plain the  matter. 

In  the  lower  resorts,  wine-shops,  where  gen- 
try's servants  and  rustics  gathered,  Laffemas 
heard  uglier  mutterings,  undying  echoes  of  the 
Jacquerie,  and  forebodings  of  the  chaos  to  fol- 
low the  removal  of  Richelieu's  iron  hand  from 
the  controlling  rod. 

"Suppose,  mates,"  said  one  of  the  workmen 
Laffemas  had  seen  tunnelling  the  wall,  "sup- 
pose, some  fine  day,  we  should  fell  a  tradesman 
with  a  bludgeon,  or  do  a  finer  deed — " 

"Opened  the  Revenue  cashbox  without  the 
proper  key?" 

"Or  made  meat  for  the  wife  and  young  ones 
of  a  buck  out  of  the  Royal  Forest?"  proceeded 
another  incipient  rebel. 

"Whatever  we  did,"  resumed  the  first  speak- 
er, "I  wager  you  should  want  plaguey  good 
eyes,  masters  all,  to  see  any  handsome  head- 
high  sea  if  old  built  up  and  hung  with  black 
cloth  from  Ypres,  fairer  than  my  master  wears 
for  a  holiday  coat — for  the  likes  of  us!" 

But  this  was  far  from  the  kind  of  treasonable 
utterance  for  which  Laifemas,  in  his  ill-savored 
career,  had  arrested  hundreds. 

Disappointed,  like  a  hunter  without  cause  to 
fire  a  shot,  he  retraced  his  steps  to  the  castle, 
where  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  one  of 
his  acquaintance  alight  from  a  vehicle  at  the 
wicket  and  rap  up  the  warder. 

"Marion  Delorme!"  ejaculated  he,  with  joy, 
hurrying  up.  "I  am  sure  that  she  has  arrived 
with  a  respite,  if  not  a  pardon.     Luckily,"  he 


466     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

went  on,  repressing  a  diabolical  chuckle,  "I 
am  provided  against  her  captivating  the  Chaste 
Susannah  who  masquerades  in  breeches  as  our 
King!" 

Indeed,  the  gatekeeper,  only  peering  through 
the  little  trap  in  the  great  gate,  answered  Mar- 
ion, who  claimed  passage  on  a  royal  order: 

"Entrance  is  forbid!" 

"The  King's  own  hand  refused!"  faltered  the 
woman,  staggered  after  so  lately  seeing  at 
Chambord  how  the  royal  power  was  reverently 
bowed  to. 

"The  King's  own  head  would  be  squeezed  in 
the  gate  an'  he  ventured  it,"  replied  the  surly 
Cerberus,  proud  of  serving  a  greater  than  the 
great. 

While  she  was  mustering  courage  to  ask  to 
see  a  captain  of  the  ward,  Laffemas  ap- 
proached. Nodding  to  her  familiarly,  which 
made  her  lower  lip  curl  in  scorn,  he  said  in  a 
jeering  voice  to  hide  his  wish  to  win  and  coax: 

"The  Cardinal's  order  is  paramount  here, 
where  he  is  suzerain  lord!  I  can  go  in  with 
it,"  flourishing  a  folded  paper  as  if  to  cross 
hers,  after  the  manner  of  opposing  a  sword, 
"wThen  I  like,  and  it  will  carry  another  with  it. 
Will  you  accompany  me?" 

The  warder,  accustomed  to  obey  Laffemas, 
ruling  next  under  his  master,  and  concluding 
that  he  had  met  an  acquaintance  from  his  tone, 
shut  the  trap  to  leave  them  in  privacy,  and  re- 
took his  occupation  of  cleaning  a  petronel,  al- 
tered to  shoot  leaden  bullets  instead  of  stone. 

"I  bear  better  than  an  order  to  enter  here.'' 
said  Marion,  unable  to  lose  her  exultation  al- 
together from  a  subordinate's  rebuff.  "I  bring 
those  two  young  gentlemen's  pardon!" 

"But  I  cover  that  card,  too,"  returned  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  467 

official  quite  :is  triumphantly.  "1  am  promised, 
and  1  await  hourly,  the  Minister's  order  re- 
voking all  anterior  relating  to  thai  precious 
pair,  and  directing  their  execution,  under  mine 
own  eyes — perhaps  under  my  Lord  Cardinal's. 
List!  that  hammer  is  knocking  the  nails  in  up- 
on their  bier!  literally,  it  is  fastening  up  the 
last  festoon  of  mourning  cloth  upon  their  scaf- 
fold." 

"Oh,  is  hope  altogether  fled!"  gasped  the  wo- 
man, drawing  her  hand  over  her  eyes  not  to  let 
the  wretch  see  the  tears  again  gathering. 

"Hope  is  a  transitory  light!  The  King's 
clemency  is  a  fragile  thing,  coming  God  know- 
eth  how  slowly  and  flitting  with  a  swallow's 
wing!" 

"But  the  King  was  stirred  unto  the  heart 
on  hearing  how  they  stood  in  peril  and  that  he 
might  rescue  them!" 

"Pooh!"  sneered  the  Chief  of  the  Royal  Po- 
lice, "what  can  the  King  do  athwart  the  Cardi- 
nal-duke's will?" 

Marion  wrung  her  hands,  crushing  that  pa- 
per which  had  warmed  her  on  the  journey  but 
now  cooled  like  a  dead  reptile. 

"Oh,  Didier,"  she  murmured  as  though  her 
tongue  were  benumbed,  fixing  her  eyes  on  the 
newly-pointed  wall,  "the  last  hope  is  extin- 
guished!   I  have  done  my  utmost!" 

"l'.ut,  talking  of  hope,"  insinuated  Laffemas, 
smiling  encouragingly,  "the  last  flicker  is  not 
out!  Far  from  that!  Understand  that  I  am  in 
power  here!  within  that  palace-fort,  as  with- 
out, and  remotely  around  about  too!  Your  war- 
rant  is  worthless,  or  soon  self-cancelled,  but 
this  is  one  which  would  enable  that  man — 
those  men,  inside  the  dismal  cells  down  there, 
to  quit  the  prison,  and  the  country,  and  reach 


468     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  golden  Ind,  where  a  princedom  may  await 
a  bold  adventurer!  Meanwhile,  accept  niy  hand! 
we  will  return  to  Paris,  and  the  Lieutenant 
CiviPs  bride  may  rest  assured  that  no  one  will 
recall  with  unmeet  gibes  that  she  was  Marion 
Delorme!" 

"Heavens,"  said  she,  still  clasping  her  hands, 
one  of  which  the  tempter  strove  to  clutch  but 
could  not  disentangle.    "Be  off,  sir!" 

"Is  this  your  last  word  to  the  offer  of  hi& 
life?  with  safety  afar,  and  a  prospect  of  a  pet- 
ty prince's  reign?    And  you  love  him?" 

"Will  you  please  to  be  silent!"  said  she 
haughtily,  like  an  insulted  princess.  "Let 
those  ravens  overhead  croak  at  scenting  blood- 
shed, but  do  not  join  your  voice  to  their  cry,  as 
long  as  you  wear  mortal  shape!" 

Laffemas  was  startled.  More  lawyer  than 
Lothario,  feminine  caprice,  much  more  resolu- 
tion, was  a  gulf  which  he  could  not  fathom 
and  its  breadth  dazed  him. 

"What  is  the  meaning  of  this?"  he  asked, 
keeping  himself  between  her  and  the  gate,  in 
case  she  purposed  another  appeal  there.  "You 
were  wont  to  be  much  more  human,  not  to  say 
womanly!  By  the  Sword  of  Justice!  now  that 
your  latest  conquest  is  in  our  net  and  you  might 
release  him,  provide  him  with  immunity  and 
riches,  to  say  nothing  of  winning  yourself  a  re- 
spectable position,  nay,  a  lofty  one,  for  I  have 
not  yet  done  climbing!  you  will  not  pay  the 
price!  A  life  for  a  hand!  a  light  return,  I 
estimate!  Who  would  not  give  his  hand  with 
his  head  at  stake?  who  would  not  put  a  ring 
round  his  mid-finger  instead  of  a  halter  round 
his  jugular!  And  here,  it  is,  not  his  hand — 
for  he  will  emerge  from  the  kingdom  intact — 
but  vour  hand  which  delivers  him.    You  have 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  469 

sheerly  to  put  on  this  single  ring,  and  he — all 
his  rings,  manacles,  fetters,  drop  and  dissolve, 
like  snowfiakes  in  the  chimney-smoke!" 

Without  a  glance  for  him,  a  curl  of  the 
thinned  lips  alone  denoting  that  she  heard  him 
more  or  less  dreamily,  Marion  rivetted  her  at- 
tention on  the  gates,  behind  which  was  all  she 
held  endeared. 

"Vermin,"  said  she  suddenly,  without  look- 
ing at  him  as  he  offered  to  kneel  to  her,  though 
it  was  the  open  street,  "I  have  made  a  great 
stride  from  the  place  where  you  saw  me.  I 
have  risen,  my  lord — but  such  as  you  would 
not  understand  these  transformations!  Even 
to  save  a  beloved  one,  the  beloved,  I  would  not 
become  infamous  again.  Indeed,  I  could  not! 
Do  not  think  the  lost  lamb  strays  again,  and 
again,  after  being  carried  back,  in  arms,  to  the 
fold?  that  the  fallen  angel,  permitted  to  weep 
in  at  the  gates  once  more  on  the  realm  of  the 
snowv-white,  would  turn  awav  from  that  en- 
trance  forever,  whoever  beckoned  without?  Oh, 
my  darling,"  continued  she,  as  if  her  voice 
low  but  earnest,  could  be  heard  by  Didier  in 
his  cell,  "vour  breath  has  re-infused  mv  soul. 
Of  the  former  Marion,  nothing  clings  to  the 
present  Marie,  and  it  is  my  love  for  you  which 
has  restored  the  virginal  purity!" 

"But  it  is  you  who  cannot  have  understood," 
persisted  Laffemas,  fearing  that  she  had  gone 
mad  with  grief,  "I  offer  to  make  you  my  lady!" 
He  followed  her,  step  for  step.  "I  stand  next 
to  the  Minister  in  power,  as  I  do  in  kindred, 
you  know!  I  will  stifle  all  calumny,  imprison, 
rack,  do  away  with  all  villifiers!  To  begin  with, 
while  we  release  this  Didier,  we  will  banish 
this  Saverny  so  far  that  never  will  he  scribble 
doggerel  about  Parisian  revelries  to  reach  a 


470     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

French  eye  or  ear!  Marry  me,  adored  one! 
You  do  not  love  me?  pah!  Love  comes  after 
wedlock  as  appetite  comes  upon  eating!" 

"Monster!"  cried  Marion,  slashing  the  pardon 
across  his  face,  heated  and  reddened,  as  it  was 
held  up  to  hers,  his  hat  having  fallen  off  in  his 
excitement.  "You  rise  from  crime  to  vice! 
Let  me  repent  and  die  holv,  since  he  must  also 
die." 

"Methinks,"  pursued  the  unintimidated 
judge,  changing  his  accent,  "you  have  still  a 
favor  to  sue  of  me.  I  am  the  Cardinal's  sole 
representative  here;  to  me  open  all  these  doors! 
If  you  would,  I  can  let  you  within,  to  see  him 
for  the  last  time!  He  dies  in  the  morning,  or 
even  earlier,  this  depending  on  how  soon  the 
Cardinal  arrives.  He  is  due  to  witness  the 
double  execution." 

"The  Cardinal,"  she  repeated,  remembering 
vaguely  that  Langely  and  the  Duke  of  Belle- 
garde  had  suggested  her  applying  to  Richelieu. 

"He  comes  this  evening!"  proceeded  Laffe- 
mas  in  his  ordinary,  passionless  voice. 

"But  he  is  ill,  bedridden  with  the  gout!" 
protested  she,  eager  to  catch  this  man  in  a 
lie. 

"True,  but  he  would  not  lose  this  distraction! 
A  bath  of  blood  restores  health,  in  some  cases 
— see  the  medical  tractates!  so,  the  sight  of 
bloodshed  regales  some  natures!  he  will  come, 
borne  in  his  great  litter,  for  which,  see,  a 
breach  has  been  cleft  in  yonder  wall!  The 
gates  would  not  admit  that  roomy  conveyance, 
carrying  my  lord,  sometimes  a  secretary,  his 
doctor,  the  deathsman,  at  a  pinch!" 

The  turn  in  the  situation  had  plunged  poor 
Marion  into  profound  reverie.  It  was  not  the 
first  time,  to  her  knowledge,  that  a  royal  de- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  471 

cree  had  been  annulled  by  the  Prime  Minister's 
later  one.  She  shuddered,  too,  at  conscious- 
ness that  all  this  coincided  with  the  Court's 
fable  and  popular  impression  of  the  statesman's 
longing  to  glut  himself  with  bloodspilling. 

( 'emulsions  shook  her  and  the  final  one  lifted 
her  out  of  her  dismay.  She  drew  her  hands, 
pale  and  thin  to  what  they  were  when  models 
to  Parisian  connoisseurs,  across  her  eyes  and 
forehead  as  if  to  clear  her  sight,  and  fastened 
it,  wild  and  fierce,  on  the  Lieutenant-Criminal, 
who  recoiled  in  fright. 

"I  contrived  their  escape;  his  escape  from 
Blois,"  said  she  without  apparent  connection, 
but  her  hearer  was  sharpened  by  his  passion 
and  he  comprehended.  Out  of  the  question  that 
any  but  Marion  was  interested  in  this  un- 
known! 

"You  could  not  repeat  the  trick  here,"  re- 
plied he  with  quickness.  "But  the  Cardinal's 
trusted  lieutenant  can!  I  would,  too,  bring 
about  their  escape  if — " 

"Tell  me  how!"  she  demanded,  resolutely, 
as  if  come  to  a  fresh  and  novel  determination. 

This  looked  like  accepting  him  as  an  accom- 
plice, at  least. 

"Be  it  your  will,"  gallantly  said  he,  "and  I 
can  have  this  gap,  intended  for  the  host's  en- 
try, guarded  by  soldiers  in  my  privy  pay.  But 
be  quick,  if  you  mean  alliance,  for  I  hear  a 
stir  within.  It  is  some  evolution  of  the  watch, 
for  the  guard  is  mounted  doubly!" 

Going  over  to  the  gateway,  he  listened  so 
intently  that  the  observer  believed  that  his 
ears  pricked  up,  pointedly,  like  a  satyr's. 

She  wrung  her  hands  again  in  anguish.  A 
searching  gaze   appealed   to   heaven,  but  the 


472  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

skies  were  lurid,  and  not  a  single  gleam  ir- 
radiated the  smoky  expanse. 

"Anything  to  save  you,  Didier!"  she  mur- 
mured. "Then,  to  balk  this  villain  of  his  ran- 
som! I  will  stoop  to  perfidy  upon  this  demon 
of  guile,  to  begin  with,  before  I  bow  to  such  an 
odious  sacrifice  as  he  exacts." 

"If  she  cheats  me,  I  forgive  her!"  muttered 
he,  puzzled. 

Then  he  became  gloomy;  after  having  inti- 
mated his  willingness  to  betray  his  master  and 
benefactor,  and  to  foil  him,  he  might  well  be 
timorous.  He  listened  to  the  soldiery  perform- 
ing mysterious  marches  behind  the  walls  as 
though  they  might  be  coming  instinctively  to 
arrest  him. 

"This  place  is  fashioned  to  repeat  the 
echoes,"  said  he  nervously.  "And  the  town  is 
full  of  spies.  Look!  under  that  dragon-head, 
spitting  the  dew  from  the  gutters,  is  a  little 
door,  dissimulated  in  the  flying  buttress.  It 
leads  to  the  chapel  of  St.  John  the  Decol- 
lated—" 

He  emphasized  the  word,  but  she  listened 
unmoved. 

"The  chapel—" 

"Where  the  prisoners  will  receive  the 
Church's  last  attentions?"  caught  up  the  wo- 
man, following  out  his  idea. 

"Nothing  more  exact.  But  the  priest  will 
not  come  yet.  Not  till  I  appoint.  Be  you  there 
at  eleven,  and  I  will  admit  you." 

"You!" 

"Can  you  not  trust  your  future  bridegroom?" 
said  Laffemas,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross. 
"In  church,  a  priest  at  hand — my  deadliest  foe 
were  safe-guarded!    we  are  not  a  cardinal's 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  173 

nephew  for  nothing — and  still  more,  you — my 
dearest  friend!" 

This  sudden  assumption  of  piety  backed  by 
the  claim  to  be  Richelieu's  relative  did  not  de- 
ceive Marion,  but  she  had  not  a  doubt  on  his 
desire  to  fulfill  his  part  of  the  bargain. 

"I  come!"  said  she.  Then,  with  a  strange 
confidence,  not  to  be  shown  had  she  not  wished 
to  convey  her  menace,  she  added: 

"To  that  Spanish  dress  in  which  you  saw  me 
belonged  a  dagger.  I  threw  off  the  dress,  but 
I  still  hold  the  steel." 

At  this,  Laflfemas  refrained  from  trying  to 
snatch  a  kiss,  even  on  her  hand,  and  sighing 
noisily,  let  her  go  her  way,  watching  her  like 
a  mariner,  on  the  verge  of  storm,  fixing  his 
gaze  on  the  pilot's  star,  as  if  to  retain  it  longer 
in  sight. 

"All  goes  well,"  said  he,  returning  to  the 
castle.  "So,  I  must  cross  my  protector!"  He 
trembled,  but  a  sudden  warmth  succeeded  th<' 
chill,  and  he  continued  his  thought:  ''For  such 
a  prize,  Papa  Armand's  displeasure  is  a  trifle!" 


474  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

OF    TWO    PRISONERS,    ONE    WILL  WEEP,     THE 
OTHER  SING. 

Whisked  from  Nangis,  without  clear  idea  of 
what  would  ensue,  Didier  and  the  Marquis  of 
Saverny  passed  the  time  on  the  journey  in 
very  diverse  attitudes.  The  latter  was  the  ad- 
miration of  the  Red  Arquebusiers  for  his  ease, 
merriness  and  a  petulance  alien  to  the  char- 
acter of  a  man  under  the  bitterest  doom. 

After  the  fashion  of  wealthy  culprits  whose 
last  dress  should  enrich  the  headsman,  he  had 
arrayed  himself  for  the  death-march  as  for  a 
wedding  one.  When,  as  the  King's  page,  he 
tricked  himself  out  to  attend  his  Majesty  at  a 
Queen's  ball,  he  never  wore  finer  feathers. 

The  other,  saddened  and  shamed  to  the  heart 
by  discovery  of  his  idol's  true  standing,  still 
clung  to  his  funereal  black,  having  dashed  off 
the  last  trace  of  theatrical  frippery  chafing  him 
while  under  the  Mondorian  wing. 

Saverny  laughed,  drank,  threw  dice,  and 
joked  along  the  road,  retailed  adventures  to 
amuse  the  soldiers,  let  the  captain  win  of  him 
over  the  drumhead,  in  short,  delighted  all 
around  him;  but  Didier  remained  taciturn  and 
sober. 

"They  will  take  him  for  the  ghostly  confessor 
waiting  on  the  wretch  to  be  hanged  and  the 
lord  as  a  jester  who  cheered  him  at  his  other 
elbow!"  said  the  captain. 

Thus,  the  escort  were  glad  to  be  relieved  ol* 
one  charge  at  Rueil  gates,  but  sorry  to  wish  a 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  475 

"Good  deliverance!"  to  the  ooble,  whom  they 
never  expected  to  see  alive  again,  so  dread 
even  to  martial  men  was  the  reputation  of  Rioh- 
elieu's  country  seat. 

In  the  sombre  cell  selected  for  them  by  the 
malicious  Laffemas,  who  had  not  forgot  his 
ducking  at  Nangis,  the  pair  preserved  the  same 
behavior. 

On  the  afternoon  when  the  last-named  made 
his  proposition  to  Mdlle.  Delorme,  the  jailer 
came  as  usual  to  lead  them  into  the  garden, 
enclosed  by  a  high  wall,  to  take  the  air. 

Saverny  followed  gaily,  humming  a  satire, 
for  decidedly  his  success  with  his  (?)  lampoon 
had  turned  him  towTards  Pasquinade,  and  Did 
ier  pacing  behind,  wrapped  in  his  black  medi- 
tations as  in  a  pall. 

The  man  went  the  inside  rounds  of  the  wall, 
yet  seemed  loth  to  depart,  which  seeing,  Sa- 
verny, on  the  alert  with  his  perennial  hopeful- 
ness for  any  diversion,  called  out: 

"My  saint  be  thanked!  what  delicious  air! 
how  balmy  is  the  breeze  on  the  other  side  of 
these  bricks  and  spikes!" 

"My  lord,"  said  the  turnkey,  turning  round 
as  if  to  seize  an  opportunity,  "your  shoe-latchet 
is  loose — you  will  trip  up  and — " 

"By  breaking  my  neck,  cheat  the  deathsman? 
Tie  it,  prithee,  good  fellow!  here  is  a  gold 
crown,  to  repay  you  for  this  and  other  petty 
attentions." 

The  man  pocketed  the  piece  so  quickly  that 
it  seemed  juggled  out  of  sight,  and  stooped  as 
though  for  the  imaginary  task.  In  this  pos- 
ture, without  lifting  his  head  and  in  a  voice 
too  low  for  Didier  to  overhear,  had  he  been 
listening,  he  said: 


476  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"Listen,  my  lord  marquis,  to  a  couple  of 
words,  if  you  please." 

"Make  it  four,"  returned  Saverny,  lightly 
but  at  once  interested. 

"Would  you  like  to  breathe  that  balmy  air 
without?"  in  a  still  lower  voice. 

The  marquis  flushed  but  he  tossed  a  pebble 
playfully  toward  a  marten  flitting  in  and  out 
of  the  chevaux-de-frise,  and  replied  as  cau- 
tiously: 

"How  the  deuce  can  one  walk  so  easily  out 
of  Rueil?" 

"That  is  my  business." 

"Is  it?  I  should  have  thought  it  quite  the 
otherwise:  to  keep  us  in!  But  go  on  with  the 
tale!" 

"I  can  liberate  you." 

"The  mischief  you  can!  Ha,  ha!  The  Car- 
dinal wants  to  stop  a  cavalier  from  returning 
to  the  ballroom  of  the  world,  namely,  Society, 
but  we  may  dance  in  spite  of  him  withal!"  He 
thrilled  with  hope  and  his  eyes  sparkled. 
"Verily,  I  shall  be  glad  to  change  my  partner 
— grim  Death!  Be  the  wall-flower,  thou!  I 
choose  Dame  Life!" 

Stooping  to  pat  the  man  on  the  shoulder,  as 
he  rose,  his  pretended  service  accomplished, 
he  continued: 

"When  is  it  to  come  off?" 

"After  dark,  this  evening!" 

Saverny  clapped  his  hands  and  took  a  danc- 
ing position,  waiting  for  the  signal  to  advance. 

"It  is  no  compliment  to  Rueil,  but  from  the 
little  I  have  seen  of  it,  I  am  not  sorry  to  quit 
it.     Tell  me,  whence  this  succor?" 

"I  was  bid  to  say  'Nangis!' " 

"My  dear  old  uncle  in  the  saddle  again?  Ah, 
the  King's  rebuff  has  spurred  him.     Between 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  477 

the  King  and  me,  his  truant  page,  we  have 
rejuvenated  the  old  gentleman!  Is  our  ever- 
green grey-beard  on  the  spot?" 

"The  only  gentleman  1  have  seen  in  the  mat- 
ter is  one  called  by  his  varlets  the  Banneret — " 

"Oh,  Brichanteau,  my  cousin?  good!  All 
will  go  as  if  on  oiled  ways!  But  this  drawing 
up  of  Joseph  from  the  pit,  includes  my  fellow- 
captive,  does  it  not?" 

With  a  flirt  of  the  finger  he  indicated  Didier, 
who  sat  on  a  stone  bench  in  the  shade,  brood- 
ing in  perfect  unconsciousness  of  w7hat  was  go- 
ing on. 

"My  lord,  as  I  understand  my  instructions,  I 
am  to  save  but  one!  and  1  fear  I  can  smuggle 
out  but  one,"  returned  the  jailer,  puzzled. 

"Not  if  the  reward  be  doubled?" 

"I  can  manage  only  one,"  repeated  the  man, 
shaking  his  head  reluctantly. 

"Only  one,"  muttered  Saverny;  "this  is  un- 
gentlemanly  of  my  cousin,  who  saw  Didier  fight 
so  valiantly.  If  it  were  Marion  managing  this 
escape,  I  do  her  the  fairness  to  suppose  that 
she  would  have  both  of  us  out,  or  none — 
though  she  does  not  harbor  much  good  will 
toward  me!" 

In  fact,  the  man  was  acting  to  the  letter. 
The  plot  was  Marion's  but  she  had  allowed 
Brichanteau  to  negotiate  with  the  warder. 
She  had  insisted  on  Didier  being  given  the 
choice  if  but  one  could  be  passed  out,  but  the 
cousin  of  Saverny,  having  no  affection  for  the 
stranger,  had  reversed  the  scheme  and  imposed 
on  the  intermediary  the  proviso  which  he  reit- 
erated to  the  marquis. 

The  latter,  like  one  drowning,  reviewed  his 
life.  Impressed  salutarily  and  profoundly  dur- 
ing their  journey  and  in  their  previous  prison- 


478  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

stay  by  his  companion's  excellence,  valor,  lofti- 
ness, constancy,  purity  of  morals  and  uncon- 
cealable  fitness  for  a  great  future,  he  resumed, 
drawing  the  man  under  cover  of  a  coping-stone: 
"Hearken!     The  one  to  save  is  that  one!" 

"The  glum  gentleman !"  said  the  turnkey,  re- 
peating the  nickname  under  which  the  escort 
had  presented  Didier  to  the  garrison ;  "you  are 
jesting!" 

"I  have  done  jesting.  He  is  your  file-leader 
if  we  break  out." 

"What  funny  ideas  you  have,  my  lord !  Your 
uncle,  vice  your  cousin,  since  such  is  this  Ban- 
neret of  Brichanteau,  does  this — risking  more 
than  I  do,  which  is  but  my  post  and  my  back, 
while  he  and  they  risk  estate  and  head!  He 
does  this  for  his  nephew,  mark!  not  a  stranger!" 

"If  that  is  the  settled  matter,  go,  get  the 
two  coffins  ready!"  and  Saverny  firmly  spun 
round  on  his  heel  and  went  over  to  Didier, 
around  whose  bent  neck  he  affectionately 
passed  his  arm. 

The  jailer  hesitated,  shook  his  head,  seemed 
to  reflect  on  another  solution  to  the  problem, 
smiled  as  if  slightly  hoping  one,  and  abruptly 
went  out,  visibly  astonished  at  such  nobility  on 
the  frivolous  courtier's  part. 

Saverny  laughed  at  this  complimentary  won- 
der, but  his  laugh  for  once  was  grating. 

"Arouse  thee,  brother,"  said  he;  "yet  I  know 
not  why  I  should  arouse  thee  from  a  brown 
study  to  a  black  look-out!  To  be  only  twenty 
and,  in  September,  not  to  see  October!  It  is 
discomforting!" 

Didier  stood  up.  From  his  doublet  he  drew 
the  miniature  of  Marion  which  Saverny  gave 
him,  and  contemplated  it  with  intensity  and 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  479 

concentration  making  him  oblivious  to  the  mar 
quis'  presence. 

The  portrait  was  exquisitely  executed,  a 
jewel,  without  regard  to  the  likeness,  which 
was  close.  The  artist  had  caught  the  expres- 
sion of  eternally  young  beauty  iu  those  like 
Marion  amalgamating  the  blonde  and  the  bru- 
nette types,  adding  1  lit-  gloss  which  ultra  re- 
finement  gives  an  impressionable  woman.  The 
loveliness  and  incomparable  grace  appeared 
above  one  human  being's  portion;  the  forehead 
might  have  been  copied  from  a  martyr's;  out 
of  the  open,  angelic-frank  eyes  shone  candor, 
and  modesty  tempered  the  lustre.  The  lips 
were  as  a  child's,  and  innocence  still  lingered, 
struggling  prettily  with  caprice. 

The  Court  Beauty  loved  the  obscure  gentle- 
man; but  being  the  Court  Beauty,  his  triumph 
was  emptiness.  The  fruit  was  of  the  Dead 
Sea  species. 

He  dropped  the  portrait  as  though  the  case 
scorched  him. 

How  slow  was  this  doom  in  coming  to  break 
the  bonds  binding  him  to  her?  Often  before  had 
he  wished  that  his  nurse — mother  he  was  not 
to  recall!  had  dashed  him  down  and  crushed 
his  head  on  the  stones!  What  evil  had  his 
nascent  spirit  wrought  that  ever  he  was  born? 
He  would  have  forgiven  his  mother  if  she  had 
stifled  him! 

Saverny  watched  his  brow  corrugating,  with 
bewilderment  that  men  could  suffer  such  deep 
♦•motions  and  survive. 

"Look,  friend,"  interrupted  he,  "see  how  low 
the  swallows  skim!  We'll  have  rain  to-night! 
good  to  cover  an  escape!" 

Didier  did  not  hear  a  word. 

"How  fickle,  foolish,  inscrutable  a  thing  is 


480     BED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

woman!"  mused  he.  "Deep  and  stormy  as  old 
Ocean!  Alas!  that  ever  on  that  expanse  I 
ventured  my  sail!  Marion  was  the  star  by 
which  I  guided  my  bark,  my  only  guide,  and 
lo!  I  have  wrecked  myself  on  the  sterile  shore, 
where  the  wrecks  abound  that  followed  that 
same  decoy-light!  Yes,  I  am  a-thinking,  that 
I  was  born  good  at  heart!  The  future  shone 
out  so  fair  and  serene  that  I  might  accept  it 
as  a  celestial  beacon.  Unhappy  woman!  would 
that  you  had  not  dared  to  deceive  me  so  thor- 
oughly when  I  confided  my  soul  utterly  to 
yours!" 

"You  are  dwelling  upon  'Marie,'"  said  Sa- 
verny  softly.  "You  try  but  cannot  succeed  in 
anchoring  on  that  quicksand!" 

He  picked  up  the  portrait,  without  looking 
at  it,  so  absorbed  was  he  in  admiration  of  Free- 
dom, peeping  a-tiptoe  over  the  rampart,  and 
handed  it  to  his  companion. 

"But  can  I  fling  you  among  degraded 
things?"  said  Didier,  his  eyes  fastening  them- 
selves on  the  miniature,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
else,  "although  you  have  deluded  me!  Demon, 
how  came  you  by  those  cerulean  wings?" 

"I  am  not  partial  to  guessing  riddles,"  said 
Saverny,  "excepting  one,  to- wit:  how  to  get 
astride  that  wall,  with  or  without  cerulean 
wings!  If  we  had  a  mattress,  somewhat  thick- 
er than  ours,  to  lay  upon  those  spikes — " 

Didier  started  as  if  only  now  aware  he  had 
a  bystander;  he  thrust  the  miniature,  without 
looking  at  it,  within  his  breast.  He  went  over 
to  the  marquis,  who  was  staring  at  a  part  of 
the  wall  where  the  house-leek  had  a  hold. 

"Singular  prodigy,"  said  he;  "you  know  that 
miniature  you  gave  me?    Well,  it  is  alive!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  481 

"Yea,  it  is  allowed  to  be  a  living  likeness, 
ha,  ha!" 

'•1  tell  you  it  is  alive!"  persisted  Didier,  with 
something  like  maniacal  irritation  at  any 
check;  "while  you  were  sleeping,  in  the  dark 
and  silence,  it  gnawed  at  my  heart!" 

"Poor  fellow!  I  have  heard  of  victims  hav- 
ing an  attack  of  Marion-cry  to  that  degree,  but 
it  nips  you  keenly!" 

"From  that  case  emanated  the  image — it 
filled  the  cell,  and  sought  to  exclude  another 
and  a  sweeter  one — " 

"Another  love?  zounds,  my  Cato!" 

"My  mother,  I  think,"  softly  said  Didier. 

"Your  mother,"  echoed  Saverny,  with  no 
lightness  now.  "I  have  heard  of  such  admoni- 
tions to  foundlings!  Listen,  friend,  you  will 
see  your  parents  before  you  die!  It  is  certain 
after  heaven  so  warns." 

A  rattle  of  keys  at  a  door  disturbed  them, 
as  Didier  leaned  on  his  friend's  arm. 

"Malice  of  Evil!""  cried  Saverny,  "are  we 
never  to  enjoy  any  privacy — in  a  prison,  too! 
What  have  we  now?" 

Another  jailer  than  the  bribed  one  appeared 
at  the  door  in  the  wall,  and  without  entering 
the  enclosure,  said: 

"Previous  to  the  Lord  Cardinal's  visit,  gen- 
tlemen, a  royal  commissioner  is  expected  to 
pay  you  one." 

"Honor  upon  honor!"  sarcastically  returned 
the  noble.  "What  is  he  commissioned  to  bring 
us?  Supper,  with  the  latest  comestibles  from 
Paris?  A  turkey  stuffed  with  Vincennes 
mushrooms,  or  wine  of  the  Borgias'  vintage, 
fresh  from  Rome — if  Kueil  has  it  not  already 
in  its  cellars!" 

"Please  you, merry  gentlemen,!  forecast  that 


482     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

he  will  read  the  sentence  at  length  as  the  tid- 
bit!" smilingly  rejoined  the  warder,  for  all  ap- 
peared of  good  cheer  to  Saverny,  whether  from 
native  affability,  his  contagious  good  humor  or 
bribery. 

"A  royal  commissioner!  Are  we  to  be 
branded,  too,  with  the  lily-flower?"  cried  Sa- 
verny, but  the  door  banged  and  the  key  grated 
as  it  was  relocked. 

The  two  relapsed  into  moodiness,  growing  in 
degree  alike.  Didier's  supreme  melancholy 
extracted  the  other's  undue  gaiety  without  his 
being  ameliorated. 

"Friend,"  said  Saverny  at  last,  giving  way  to 
a  feeling  not  often  known  to  him,  but  which 
had  begun  on  finding  that  his  uncle's  affection 
and  cousin's  attachment  were  not  of  the  fad- 
ing kind,  "preach  to  me,  since  you  will  not 
sing  love-songs!  It  will  sadden  me  but  it  may 
console!" 

Not  a  word  did  he  say  of  the  boon  rejected 
because  it  could  not  be  transferred  or  shared. 

"What  are  you  asking  me?"  inquired  Didier, 
remaining  in  stupor  since  his  endeared  one's 
name  had  been  pronounced.  His  spirits  were 
weakened  by  captivity,  and  forgetfulness  was 
stealing  over  him,  so  that  he  remembered  little 
and  knew  less. 

"Speak  to  me  of  death,"  continued  the  mar- 
quis, taking  him  by  the  arm,  and  remarking 
that  the  word  strangely  brought  color  to  the 
pale  cheek.  "You  have  studied — what  is  it, 
after  all?" 

"Evervthing  after  all!  Did  vou  sleep  well 
last  night?" 

"Not  up  to  my  usual  mark.  The  fatigue  of 
the  journey,  the  change  of  bed,  not  for  the  bet- 
ter! my   couch  seemed   stuffed   with   shuttle- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  483 

cocks!  If  I  had  ever  had  the  time  to  do  any- 
thing reprehensible,  1  should  way  that  my  con- 
science had  stepped  outside  of  me  and  thrashed 
me  with  nettles!" 

"Well,  when  you  are  dead,  friend,  your  bed 
will  be  still  harder,  but,  on  our  faith!  you  will 
sleep  soundly!     That  is  all!" 

"But  the  Infernal  Regions?"  went  on  the  mor- 
alist's pupil,  shuddering  like  a  child  urging  an 
elder  to  tell  ghost  stories  which  it  shrank  from. 

"The  Inferno!  It  is  nothing  beside  wThat 
some  lives  pass  through  here!"  answered  the 
other  with  a  terrible  smile.  "Have  ambition 
and  fall  in  love,  and  in  both  courses  be  baf- 
fled! ah!" 

"You  speak  with  a  confidence  that  banishes 
my  dread,  but  I  still  cannot  say  that  I  relish 
the  idea  of  being  hanged.  It  gives  me  a  stiff 
neck  to  think  of  that!"  and  the  speaker  moved 
his  hand  up  and  down  his  nape  furtively  as 
when  one  suddenly  expects  a  crick  to  demon- 
strate itself. 

"It  is  still  death,  so  do  not  look  on  it  too 
narrowly!" 

"You  may  take  it  easily,  but  be  dashed  to  it! 
if  I  do.  I  am  not  bragging  when  I  say  I  fear 
mere  dying  very  little,  but  death  is  just  death 
and  I  do  not  like  it  served  up  in  a  chain  of 
hemp  sausages!" 

The  shadow  thickened  around  the  young 
preacher  and  the  young  novice. 

"Death,"  proceeded  the  former,  "wears  a 
thousand  aspects.  The  gibbet  is  one.  With- 
out a  doubt  (here  is  a  disagreeable  shock  when 
the  kuot  extinguishes  our  vital  spark  as  the 
snufling  fingers  put  out  the  candle  light — a 
pressure  on  the  gorge,  and  out  goes  the  flam- 
ing soul!     Whither?    To  be  lost,  or  to  unite 


484     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

with  another  mass  of  fiery  essence?  But  what 
does  it  matter  after  all?  Provided  that  on 
the  earth  was  nothing  but  blackness,  what  con- 
cerns us  that  we  lie  beneath  a  mossy  stone 
which  praises  our  virtues  while  crushing  us,  or 
whether  we  dangle  in  an  iron  cage,  high  in 
lonely  air,  while  the  ravens  tear  gobbets  of  our 
dwindling  flesh?     what  odds!" 

Saverny  shuddered,  but  he  tried  to  say  with 
admiration: 

"Youthful  as  you  are,  the  Cynic  of  Sinope 
never  thumped  his  tub  to  a  finer  dissertation! 
As  for  Socrates,  his  hemlock  draft  were  a 
sweet  posset  to  this!" 

"Let  the  body  look  to  itself,"  went  on  the 
other,  warming  with  his  theme  and  at  having 
as  an  auditor  the  representative  of  the  class 
most  opposed  to  him  in  fate  and  tastes,  "wheth- 
er the  vulture's  beak  rips  off  my  outer  case 
or  the  worm  devour  it,  as  it  would  a  king's — 
that  need  not  trouble  the  spirit  within  it. 
Look  you !  it  is  my  belief  that  though  it  takes 
a  dozen  strong  shoulders  to  adjust  the  grave- 
stone over  the  body  as  its  final  coverlet,  one 
touch  of  the  ghostlv  finger  will  lift  it  off  to 
let  it  take  its  flight—" 

"To  heaven,  brother?"  asked  Saverny. 

"To  heaven,"  answered  Didier.  "And  it  will 
be  heaven,  for  it  is  furthermore  said  that  there 
we  shall  be  as  the  angels — neither  wedding 
nor  parting  as  happens  to  mortals." 

He  sank  into  abstraction  from  which  Sa- 
verny, also  grave,  did  not  stir  him,  up  the  time 
of  their  being  taken  back  to  the  cell.  The 
jailers  on  the  way  seemed  a  little  surprised  to 
see  them.  It  was  clear  that  they  doubted  that 
even  Rueil  would  long  hold  the  heir  to  Nangis 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  485 

and  thi.s  stranger,  who  stalked  like  a  prince 

in  plain  clothes. 

The  friendly  jailer  slaved  with  them,  osten- 
sibly to  arrange  their  accommodation  for  the 
night. 

"Any  news?''  asked  the  marquis. 

"The  offer  still  stands,"  returned  the  man, 
evasively. 

"If  he  cannot  go?" 

The  man  shook  his  forelock  and  then  pulled 
at  it. 

"Hem!  there  might  be  opening  enough  for 
two,  but — in  fact,  the  Lieutenant-Criminal  is 
here,  in  person,"  he  pursued  in  a  most  cautious 
voice,  looking  round  as  if  the  walls  were  trans- 
parent. "And  it  is  plain  to  us  officers  that  he 
has  a  special  animosity  against  your  compan- 
ion." 

"Laffemas,  is  it?  And  he  hates  Didier  more 
than  me?     Humph!" 

"They  say  that  he  is  vexed  because  of  a  ru- 
mor spread  none  know  from  what  quarter,  but 
probably  from  the  inn,  where  all  fables  origi- 
nate, that,  by  reason  of  your  rank  and  this  gen- 
tleman's undoubted  gentility,  a  boon  will  be 
accorded  by  my  Lord  Cardinal — " 

"The  Red  Eminence  and  a  boon  to  the  con- 
demned, in  harness!  What  an  odd  team!  what 
means  this?" 

"Oh,  they  say  that,  while  a  pardon  is  im- 
possible, the  penalty  is  to  be  softened — " 

"Use  a  silver  axe  on  a  block  of  green  cheese, 
perhaps!"  railed  Saverny. 

"The  penalty  will  be' softened  into  that  of 
head-cutting  oil!" 

"St.  John  the  Decollated  who  is  patron  over 
what  is  holy  here,  be  thanked!"  exclaimed  the 
noble.     "You   will  behold   a  miracle;  I  shall 


486  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

die,  blessing  the  name  of  Armand  Duplessis, 
Duke  of  Richelieu!" 

Didier  had  not  heard. 

"On  second  thoughts,  I  suppose,"  said  the 
man,  garrulous  at  meeting  with  so  lively  a 
ward,  "his  Eminence  has  thought  that  while 
a  decapitation  will  regale  him,  sick  as  he  is, 
a  hanging  is  a  low  and  vulgar  sight — puh!" 

"The  lowness  depends  on  the  height  of  the 
gibbet,"  said  the  young  man  in  good  spirits. 

"Faith!  You  can  estimate  the  height,  for  it 
will  be  peeping  over  the  shoulder  of  the  bastion 
to—" 

"Wish  us  good  night?" 

Hammering  and  sawing  interrupted  him. 

"Is  that  IT?"  he  called :  "Didier,  they  are  at 
work  at  our  throne!" 

"Guardroom  talk  has  it  that  the  change  is 
owing  to  a  lady,  who  pleaded,  with  your  cause 
in  hand,  to  the  King!" 

"A  lady!  then  I  am  not  to  thank  my  unc — 
that  is,  a  lady!  My  coronet  on  it,  Didier,  this 
is  our  good  Marion!" 

"Then,  you  will  not  try,  alone,  to  escape  the 
axe,  either?"  said  the  warder,  evidently  bent 
on  gaining  his  recompense. 

"For  the  last  time,  an'  vou  cannot  make  the 

« 

hole  large  enough  for  two,  none  go!"  and  the 
marquis  gently  pushed  him  toward  the  door. 

Oscillating  between  greed  and  terror,  the 
traitor  stopped  this  side  of  the  sill  and  almost 
in  the  noble's  ear  breathed  these  words: 

"My  lord,  a  secret!  If  I  dare  not  conduct 
more  than  one  of  you  by  my  way — you  two 
may  make  a  break  for  it  by  another  way.  if 
you  dare — ■" 

"We  were  put  here  for  over-daring,"  replied 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  181 

Saverny.  "We  will  dare  more  to  show  this 
prison  a  wide  space!" 

The  man  reached  out  his  bundle  of  keys  and 
grazed  the  greasy  wall.  "By  bearing  your 
united  weigh!  on  that  inserted  ring,  thai  rock- 
will  shift  from  iis  place.  The  others  within 
may  become  detached  and  you  could  enter  our 
chapel  there  by  a  bay.  The  workmen  are 
building  it  up  as  a  receptacle  for  a  new  shrine 
in  honor  of  his  Eminence's  recovery  here  from 
a  seizure  of  the  gout,  last  June.  Plenty  of 
mason's  tools,  therefore — it  will  look  fore- 
stalled for  a  breaking-out!  planks,  a  ladder  or 
two,  ropes!  God  helping,  you  may  issue  from 
the  west  windows  and  lower  yourselves  to  the 
street.  As  the  Cardinal  enters  at  the  other  end 
and  draws  all  the  rabble  to  him,  you  may  walk 
out  without  a  challenge!" 

As  the  man  took  breath  after  this  long 
speech,  but  of  which  Saverny  found  no  word 
superfluous,  he  could  have  embraced  him  for 

j<»y. 

"Neither  halter  nor  hatchet!"  said  he.  "I 
will  leave  my  purse  for  you  at  the  inn;  its 
host  is  an  ancient  retainer  of  Nangis.  Come 
you  any  hour  to  Nangis  Castle,  and  you  will 
find  platter  heaped,  beaker  foaming,  and  a 
softer  bed  than  you  furnished  us!  Worth v  fel- 
low,  may  you  be  deputy  to  St.  Peter  anon!" 

"I  am  in  no  hurry  for  my  promotion!"  said 
the  man,  beaming  with  smiles  as  he  wTent  out. 

They  saw  that,  by  the  lamp  which  he  had 
lighted. 

"They  have  lit  the  candle  to  enable  us  to 
write  our  wills,"  said  the  marquis  jocularly, 
and  taking  up  the  earthen-ware  lamp  he  held 
it  so  as  to  cast  a  ray  where  the  faithless  turn- 
key had  scratched  the  stone  block  with  his  keys. 


488     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE: 

When  he  set  it  down  on  the  table,  Didier, 
unconscious  of  the  plot,  took  up  his  sermon 
where  it  was  broken  off  in  the  exercise-ground, 
and  said: 

"I  was  saving  that,  of  a  suretv,  after  the 
death,  albeit  the  limbs  are  fractured,  the  veins 
tapped,  the  body  sullied  by  impure  rivulets  of 
blood,  out  of  this  mangled,  bruised,  and  en- 
sanguined pulp — lo!  the  immortal  soul  will  as- 
cend, stainless  and  without  a  wound!" 

"Amen!"  ferventlv  said  Savernv,  "but  I — " 
Here  the  vesper  bell  tinkled,  and  he  knelt  down 
beside  his  companion,  joining  in  his  prayer. 

While  still  kneeling,  their  faces  close,  he 
whispered: 

"There  is  a  flaw  in  the  trap!  a  movable  stone! 
Noel!  we  shall  leave  an  empty  nest  for  the 
Cardinal  to  stare  at!  it  will  give  him  a  final 
stroke!  and  may  he  fall  on  that  reptile  Laffe- 
mas  and  crush  his  life  out!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  189 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

T1IE  SUCCESSOR  TO  TIIE  HELMSMAN. 

The  Palais-Cardinal,  or  Richelieu  Mansion, 
in  St.  Honore  Street,  was  sufficiently  finished 
for  the  Prime  Minister's  residence  and  carry- 
in*;  on  of  official  business. 

The  Arabs  are  right  who  say  that,  before 
the  master  enters  his  new  house,  Death  pre- 
cedes him:  he  went  in  far  from  a  hale  man. 

While  all  was  tribulation  around  Didier  and 
his  companion,  constantly  under  the  shadow  of 
ignominious  doom,  the  Ruler  of  France  seemed 
to  be  passing  away  placidly,  in  his  cabinet. 

The  room  was  sumptuous,  as  all  the  decora- 
tions were  new. 

This  untarnished  splendor  accentuated  the 
contrast  wTith  the  declining  host. 

Deep  in  green  velvet  cushions,  heaped  on  a 
vast  easy  chair,  Richelieu's  pale  face  loomed 
up  from  the  soft  depths  like  a  mariner's,  part- 
smothered  in  seaweed. 

His  eyes  were  closed,  in  coma  baffling  the 
stimulants  of  the  best  physicians,  and  the  only 
signs  of  life  were  in  the  attenuated  hands  car- 
essing a  kitten  on  each  knee,  mechanically 
done,  while  two  others  frisked,  in  a  subdued 
manner  (instinct  telling  them  it  was  a  dying 
master)  upon  his  sharp  shoulders  under  the 
violet  cape.  It  was  a  season  when  the  Cardi- 
nals changed  their  red  to  iliis  shade,  and  not 
because  ho  had  promised  Laffemas  he  should 
attend  the  execution  of  Didier  and  Ids  fellow- 
duellist. 


490  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

Behind  him  looked  down  a  set  of  marble 
busts,  the  Roman  Emperors,  a  present  from 
Cardinal  Bentivoglio,  from  niches  in  a  magnifi- 
cent oak  bookcase;  but  its  contents  were  more 
valuable:  the  library  at  which  Malargue  had 
mocked;  the  binding  was  of  fawn-color  and 
creamy  vellum.  Most  of  the  books  were 
stamped  with  emblems  of  Francis  I.  and  him 
of  Anjou,  several  Henries,  and  musty  tall  fo- 
lios, scenting  of  noxious  drugs,  belonging  to 
the  sport-loving  Charles  IX.  A  few,  rarer 
still,  came  from  Charles  V.'s  collection.  Pre- 
cious stones  mounted  to  guard  the  corners 
beamed  softly,  they  were  uncut;  gilding  in  all 
stages  of  brightness  glittered  on  the  edges, 
backs  and  exposed  sides;  arabesques,  miracles 
of  "tooling,"  presented  puzzles  to  the  ingen- 
ious. 

Publications  of  the  time,  presentations  from 
grateful  monasteries  and  convents,  or  bribes 
to  avert  persecution,  glowed  and  sparkled  with 
newness  like  the  room  ornamentation. 

Between  lofty  windows,  glazed  with  large 
blown-glass  panes,  two  long  tables,  with  their 
angles  rounded  and  bound  with  polished  brass 
to  prevent  accidents  where  the  master  was  apt 
to  lose  his  footing  through  dizziness,  were 
heaped  with  writing  materials  and  registers; 
more  of  the  latter  were  piled  against  the  legs 
on  Turkish  rugs  on  the  waxed  floor.  An  enor- 
mous fire  of  sweet-scented  wood  blazed  in  a 
capacious  mantel-place,  of  Faenza  and  blue- 
veined  marble,  representing  a  combat  of  Cen- 
taurs and  Mermen.  The  Richelieu  arms,  enam- 
elled on  bronze,  showed  in  the  rosette  in  the 
centre.  This  warmth  was  for  the  invalid, 
since  the  autumn  was  not  cold. 

Upwards  of  ten  or  twelve  secretaries  toasted 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  491 

back  or  shin,  as  the  case  might  be,  seated 
around  these  tables,  their  quills  squeaking  and 
the  linen  paper  crackling  in  the  heat  under 
their  nimble  hands.  They  were  copying  de- 
spatches, transcribing  scarcely  decipherable  re- 
ports by  useful  but  illiterate  news-gatherers, 
and  recording  important  articles,  marked  in 
the  original  with  red  lead,  in  the  huge  regis- 
ters. 

Between  them  and  the  ruler,  another  table 
rose,  smaller,  fitted  with  drawers  having  locks, 
where  live  or  six  superior  writers  worked  at 
making  cipher  messages  and  transcribing  them 
intelligibly,  or  carefully  framing  letters  to  be 
commended  for  elegance  at  foreign  courts. 

Still  another  table,  supplied  with  a  cush- 
ioned stool  and  an  elevating  top  which  enabled 
the  writer  at  it  to  stand  or  to  sit  as  he  pre- 
ferred, stood  a  little  aloof;  instead  of  diplo- 
matic documents,  map  or  plan,  it  showed  a 
miniature  stage  with  appliances  complete,  to- 
gether with  tiny  puppets  which  rolled  to  and 
fro  in  grooves  on  balls;  it  was  partly  obscured 
by  piles  of  the  handbooks  sold  at  theatre-doors 
at  the  period,  manuscripts,  and  particularly  a 
collection  of  sheets,  dreadfully  scribbled  over 
with  corrections,  marginal  suggestions,  and 
sketches  of  costume;  this  one  had  every  page 
headed,  as  though  the  author  felt  pride  in  the 
word:     "MIRAME  (Tragedy)." 

The  secretaries  smiled  at  their  master  find- 
ing solace  in  play-writing,  but  none  of  them 
were  ever  to  know  what  Father  Joseph  alone 
was  in  the  secret  of:  "Mirame"  was  the  ana- 
gram of  Bamire,  and  the  great  Cardinal's  first 
love  was  its  heroine.  Alas!  one  may  love  in 
later  years,  but  the  love  of  fortv  is  far  fi\ 
that  of  twenty  year! 


492  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

In  the  south  corner,  where  a  port-hole-like 
window  gave  a  peep  of  the  old  part  of  the 
Louvre,  buildings  between  having  been  demol- 
ished, upon  cushioned  seats,  sat  kittens  of  all 
colors  and  variety  of  fur,  but  the  Persian  pre- 
dominated; one  cat  from  southern  England  was 
noticeable  for  having  no  tail;  these  feline  curi- 
osities were  presents  to  the  great  Minister, 
whose  favorites  were  cats.  He  liked  them  for 
their  independence  and  asserted,  none  ever 
knew  whether  in  belief  or  to  hoax  the  credu- 
lous, that  their  superabundant  electricity  ben- 
efited the  person  stroking  them.  If  true,  he 
was  a  forerunner  of  "the  Stroker"  of  a  subse- 
quent date. 

Others  of  the  pets  slept  in  padded  baskets; 
some  were  beribboned,  some  wore  collars  and 
chafed  at  them,  inscribed  with  a  clue  to  the 
donors;  others  sat  around  a  china  saucer  of 
sop  and  drew  out  portions  to  eat,  while  growl- 
ing. 

A  pretty  page,  with  rosy  cheeks,  golden  hair 
down  on  his  shoulders,  and  in  a  fantastic  suit 
trimmed  with  miniver,  kept  the  entire  menag- 
erie in  order  with  commands  in  a  musical 
voice  and  a  whip,  more  ornamental  than  ter- 
rible. 

So  young  and  hale,  he  seemed  to  be  a  pleas- 
ant Memento  Mori    for  the  sufferer. 

Without  straw  being  down  in  the  ill-paved 
street,  the  word  was  passed  to  drive  slow:  all 
vehicles  passed  as  if  going  to  a  funeral.  All 
noise  that  did  escape  the  wheels  failed  to  pene- 
trate the  tapestry,  from  Utrecht  and  the  fac- 
tory just  set  up  in  the  Louvre. 

Four  or  five  years  back,  the  Minister  had 
been  stricken  with  fever,  which  left  a  deposit 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  493 

in  the  veins,  said  the  doctors,  fostering  the 
settlement  of  gout. 

Gradually,  he  had  lost  through  its  inroads 
the  cavalier  elasticity  which  had  astonished 
veterans  at  La  Rochelle  Siege.  He  had  also 
lost  most  of  his  early  friends  and  comrades, 
and  like  the  prematurely  aged,  regarded  these 
removals  as  so  many  indications  that  his  join- 
ing-time would  not  long  be  deferred. 

Yet  there  was  so  much  to  do  which  he  had 
planned! 

The  thinness  and  greyness  of  his  locks  made 
him  look  older;  a  reminder  of  the  lovelock  was 
in  the  scanty  twists  at  side  of  the  high  fore- 
head, reflected  in  his  portrait,  representing  full 
and  side  faces,  hanging  at  the  back  of  his 
chair,  by  Philippe;  around  it  w7ere  Italian  land- 
scapes and  religious  scenes,  from  ecclesiasti- 
cal friends. 

One  landscape,  a  botch  compared  with  them, 
cherished  none  knew  why,  except  that  it  was  of 
his  bourg  Richelieu,  to  him  recalled  the  woods 
where  he  had  roamed  with  Joseph  and  with 
Ramire;  it  hung  over  the  way,  where  his  eyes, 
upward  stealing,  could  perceive  it  and,  as  his 
sight  failed,  enrich  the  colors  and  define  the 
outlines  by  memory's  enhancing  brush. 

On  a  trophy  of  arms  of  the  times  of  Pa  via 
and  Ivry,  a  sword  of  the  latter  date  was  slung 
as  if  carelessly ;  it  had  belonged  to  his  father 
the  Captain  Duplessis;  it  was  treasured  as  a 
talisman,  and  on  the  baldric  was  inscribed  in 
Latin  the  legend  which  Voltaire  translated  as: 
"The  First  King  was  a  successful  Soldier." 

Richelieu's  high  brows  were  pointedly  arched 
over  cavities  where  at  rare  intervals  that  eagle 
glance  shot  forth  before  which  the  boldest 
quailed,  as  on  "the  Day  of  Dupes." 


'494:  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

His  prominent  nose  stood  out  the  more  sal- 
ient as  sickness  had  sharpened  it  while  sinking 
and  creasing  the  cheeks.  His  face  was  length- 
ened by  the  chin-tuft  to  which  he  adhered, 
spite  of  ridicule,  and  his  mustache  was  too 
thin  to  widen  it. 

In  sum,  in  this  decrepit,  ailing  patient,  little 
revived  memory  of  the  youth  who  had  quitted 
fame  to  push  through  the  woodland  to  offer 
his  hand  to  the  Hermit's  grandchild. 

He  was  not  so  old  that  he  should  feel  that 
recurrence  of  boyhood's  dreams  which  rejoice 
while  saddening  the  aged,  but  often  of  late  he 
thought  of  youthful  hours,  as  distraction  from 
the  ceaseless  conflict  with  the  Court,  the 
Queens,  the  King's  brother,  the  King,  from  be- 
ing so  difficult  to  fix  and  hold,  the  nobles  who 
hated  him,  the  officials  who  feared  him,  the 
classes  which  misunderstood  him,  and  the 
masses  who  followed  the  cue  of  their  superiors 
in  receiving  him. 

There,  too,  was  the  financial  hydra  to  wrestle 
with,  coped  with  ever  since  he  had  undertaken 
the  great  wars  of  the  era,  costly  because  militia 
were  not  and  mercenaries  had  to  be  hired 
when  the  people  could  not  be  trusted  with 
arms. 

These  and  his  ailment,  never  relaxing  in  its 
assaults,  had  worn  even  a  Richelieu  to  the 
bone. 

Incessantly  he  was  haunted  by  the  regret 
that  he  had  no  heir,  particularly  political,  for 
Father  Joseph,  admirable  as  a  helper,  seemed 
to  have  no  liking  to  lead;  as  for  Laffemas,  he 
showed  no  capacity  but  for  bloodshed  and  ra- 
pine, controlled  by  a  caution  which  unfitted 
him  as  a  free-lance  captain  but  adapted  him 
for  the  law.     Without  a  lieutenant,  Richelieu 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  495 

sighed  on  his  sick  bed  like  an  Alexander  who 
saw  the  realm  lie  had  wearily  bound  together, 
scattered  among  strangers  and  enemies.  He 
fancied  that  around  him  circled  human  jackals, 
the  parasites  and  sycophants  of  the  Royal  Fam- 
ily, their  confessors,  confidants,  favorites  and 
duennas,  prowling  and  casting  sidelong  glances 
on  the  rich  quarry  on  which  perched  the  sick 
eagle,  soon  to  release  his  grip  upon  it. 

Recurring  to  the  earliest  days,  Ramire's  im- 
age held  the  foremost  place;  he  strove  in  vain 
to  perceive  her  reflected  in  Laffemas;  all  was  a 
void  where  affection  should  rest;  Europe  ridi- 
culed the  great  ruler  who  consoled  himself 
with — kittens! 

"Tiger,  he  should  play  with  cubs!"  had  said 
a  satirist. 

"This  is  the  twilight,"  he  admitted,  in- 
wardly; "it  may  not  be  long  before  night  closes 
in!  Poor  King!  Poor  France!  'There  is  none 
to  guide  her  among  all  her  sons  that  she  has 
brought  forth!'     Poor  Brother  Joseph!" 

lie  considered  the  Capnchin  the  head  of  his 
auxiliaries.  With  all  his  acumen,  his  gener- 
ally accurate  summing-up  of  his  employees' 
constituents,  he  had  not  truly  gauged  Le-Clerc 
du  Tremblay's  ambition;  he  saw  but  the  satrap 
who  did  not  covet  the  sultan's  diadem. 

All  at  once,  Richelieu  started  and  it  would 
seem  that  the  vague  thrill  pervaded  the  en- 
tire apartment  as  the  least  electrical  distur- 
bance affects  the  contents  of  the  Leyden  jar. 
The  scribes  wrote  more  hurriedly  and  the 
registrars  buried  themselves  more  deeply  in 
their  volumes.  An  attendant,  replenishing  the 
fire  with  billets,  stirred  it  with  a  steel  bar, 
and  a  clerk,  who  happened  to  be  in  the  line 


wing 


496  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

of  the  Minister  and  the  flames,  stepped  aside 
as  though  flung  from  a  catapult. 

"Death  is  nigh!"  said  every  one  to  himself; 
"he  has  felt  the  icy  current  from  its  heavy 

They  esteemed  their  superior;  these  chosen 
ones  were  not  the  sort  who  worked  for  bare 
wages  or  for  terror;  their  admiration  for  the 
genius  was  fanatical  and  their  devotion  that 
of  disciples  for  a  saint.  They  had  insight  into 
his  policy  and  they  worshiped  the  sun  which 
dazzled  them — while  warming  and  fructifying 
France;  his  word,  in  an  age  when  mendacity 
was  applauded,  was  to  be  relied  on. 

But  his  shivering  was  mental;  he  murmured: 

"A  son!  An  heir!  Oh,  that  I  had  that  con- 
solation— that  staff  in  the  supreme  hour  when 
one  reels  and  gropes!" 

His  eyes  opened!  feeling  them  upon  them,  the 
scribes  bowed  the  head. 

This  glance  warmed  them  with  fresh  hope; 
how  many  times  recently  had  they  seen  him 
resuscitated!  At  periods  when  the  Court  in- 
decently  rejoiced  over  the  imminent  removal 
of  its  incubus,  these  had  seen  those  bloodless 
lips  part  to  dictate  sentences  disrupting  coun- 
tries, bidding  a  Wallenstein  change  his  march 
or  a  Tilly  spare  a  city;  tenants  of  thrones  were 
shifted;  a  son  of  Henry  the  Great  would  be 
sent  into  exile,  or  a  mean  fugitive  recalled  to 
fill  a  seat  at  the  Royal  Council;  the  plebeian 
Marion  Delorme  would  be  maintained  in  her 
little  region  at  Paris  while  the  aristocratic 
beauty,  friend  of  the  young  Queen,  the  Duchess 
of  Chevreuse,  would  flee  in  a  humble  disguise, 
foiled  in  every  intensely  subtile  intrigue. 

For  half  an  hour,  without  faltering — on  the 
contrary,  seeming  to  gain  force  by  renewing 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  197 

his  favorite  occupation,  the  Premier  proceeded 
with  his  correspondence,  receiving  messengers 
and  despatching  them,  dilating  on  several  sub- 
jects al  the  same  time,  like  Caesar,  showing 
incredible  lucidity  and  the  well-known  tenacity 
in  grasping  details. 

Then  he  abruptly  fell  back,  but  he  finished 
clear  to  the  last  letter  and  appended  the  period 
to  his  signature  like  a  conscientious  writing- 
master. 

"Ange!     Father  Auge!"  he  called  faintly. 

Out  of  a  side-door  slipped  a  page  under  the 
hangings,  immediately  to  return  with  a  priest. 
the  second  father-confessor,  as  Carre  was  the 
first,  with  Joseph  over  all. 

Ange  had  taken  a  misnomer;  he  was  inele- 
gant, short,  thick;  his  physiognomy  betrayed  a 
traitor,  gleaner,  self-lover — nevertheless,  Rich- 
elieu had  never  been  betrayed  by  him,  never 
lost  a  secret  through  his  chubby  fingers,  never 
found  his  selfishness  injure  him.  Such  is  the 
power  of  genius  that  even  evil  spirits  obey 
them;  that  is  what  they  are  on  earth  for;  the 
good  shun  them. 

"Your  uncle,"  said  Richelieu  abruptly,  "was 
in  the  late  King  Henry's  household.  He  used 
to  sav  that  the  King  had  a  foreboding  of  his 
death?" 

Ange  had  often  told  the  tale,  since  it  did 
not  commit  him ;  he  rubbed  his  thick  but  long 
nose,  betokening  wariness  and  acuteness,  at  a 
loss  what  reply  to  make,  now. 

''Your  Eminence,"  said  he,  "there  are  inner 
voices  which  we  cannot  stifle.  Perhaps.  John 
the  Baptist  heard  such  while  in  the  desert, 
yet  they  were  not  on  the  desert."  Richelieu 
said  nothing,  so  he  talked  on.  trusting  to  pleas- 
but  regretting  that    he  had  no  peg  ottered  to 


498  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

hang  his  address  upon.  "The  lamented 
King — "  with  a  grimace  ill-concealed  for,  in 
his  eves,  Henry  was  a  heretic,  "on  the  fatal 
morning  rose,  saying  he  felt  a  pain  as  though 
stabbed  to  the  vitals.  He  even  asked  his  valet 
— that  Jean  Laiiemas,  whose  son  is  in  your 
Eminence's  service,  our  new  Lieutenant  of  In- 
ternal Police,  to- wit — the  King  said  to  him  that 
the  poniard-hilt's  impression  ought  to  be  vis- 
ible on  his  side.  This  is  what  made  him  rest- 
less and  caused  the  order  for  the  coach  to  be 
brought  round  to  the  Louvre  gates  for  him  to 
change  his  palace." 

"Give  me  the  potion,"  said  the  Cardinal, 
without  commenting. 

On  a  tripod-table,  capped  with  a  mosaic  of 
the  Vatican  artificers'  choicest  work,  stood  a 
crystal  flagon  and  a  filagree  cup,  silver  around 
"unicorn"  horn;  the  preparation  which  the 
priest  poured  out  was  flavored  with  Naffe,  oth- 
erwise, orange-flowers,  an  odor  showing  that 
it  was  compounded  by  the  royal  physician 
whose  weakness  was  in  this  direction.  On 
hearing  the  master  slowly  sip,  the  kittens 
thrust  their  heads  to  partake  with  him,  and  he 
did  not  impatiently  push  their  whiskers  away, 
although  his  skin  was  abnormally  sensitive. 

"Did  my  lord  feel  any  such  pang?"  anxiously 
inquired  the  confessor. 

"No!  calm  yourself.     But  I  have  had  an  odd 
dream,  in  the  incalculably  brief  interval  be- 
tween dictating  two  letters.     It  seemed  to  me 
that  from  the  Papal  tiara  fell  one  of  its  pre 
cious  stones — " 

"111  omen!"  exclaimed  the  priest,  crossing 
himself  and  adding  the  sign  against  the  evil 
eye,  which  denoted  he  had  an  education  in 
Rome. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  499 

"This  gem  blazed  like  a  meteor,  with  the 
reddish-angry  hue  of  Mars,  and,  traversing  the 
heavens  so  as  to  pass  into  France,  narrowly 
missed  striking  me,  but  my  broad-brimmed  ; 
rebuffed  it  and  il  felled  somebody  close  to  me, 
who,  muffled  in  the  crepuscular  grey  of  night, 
which  the  star  blaze  deepened,  could  not  be 
distinguished  before  I  woke." 

"My  lord,"  said  Ange,  coolly,  "you  are  simply 
fretting  during  arrival  of  tidings  from  the  Eter- 
nal City.  But  Father  Carre  has  but  just 
started  with  inquiries,  we  know,  and  he  will 
arrive  before  the  informal  assemblage  of  the 
dignitaries  who  will  make  up  the  Conclave  and 
pre-arrange  its  decision — " 

At  the  door  came  a  tapping  such  as  etiquette 
prescribes  for  royal  nerves,  and  which  the 
Minister's  failing  health  substituted  for  knock- 
ing. 

"Father  Carre!"  proclaimed  an  usher  in 
guarded  tones,  but  in  the  silence  they  were  ade- 
quate. 

On  overhearing  that  their  strong-minded 
master  had  visions,  like  an  ecstatic  nun,  all  the 
clerks  were  listening.  This  return  of  the 
freshly  sent  courier  was  ominous  of  a  bar  to 
the  wheels  of  some  important  piece  of  diplo- 
matic machinery. 

"Carre,  so  soon?  What  mishap?  Never  was 
he  set  back  on  my  errand!"  muttered  Richelieu, 
resting  his  arms  on  the  chair  so  as  to  lean  for- 
ward. 

Father  Carre  entered  rapidly,  with  a  stride 
unlike  the  priest's  slippered  step  He  was  clad 
as  a  rider,  and  his  boots  were  filled  to  the 
wrinkles  with  dust  and  blood  from  the  spur- 
wounds. 


500     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

He  went  straight  up  to  the  Minister  and 
whispered  for  his  ear  alone: 

"Your  Eminence  will  please  overlook  niy  re- 
tracing steps!  I  met  counter-orders  for,  on  the 
road,  was  the  Pope's  deputy!  he  will  present 
the  person  whom  you  expected  to  see  come 
from  Rome!" 

"My  successor  to  be  named,"  thought  the 
Minister,  sighing;  "I  fear  me  it  will  not  be  a 
Frenchman!  Misery  to  my  country!  A  young 
prince,  a  fickle  Queen,  a  confirmed  intriguer, 
and — no  statesmen!     A  foreigner  over  all!" 

Not  a  trace  of  his  repining  showed  on  his 
face.  But  he  frowned  a  little;  it  was  the  first 
time,  perhaps,  when  another  power,  even  that 
to  which  he  was  but  a  sacerdotal  subordinate, 
had  blown  back  in  his  teeth  so  much  as  a 
feather  he  had  launched  on  the  breeze. 

"A  Pontifical  agent,  coming  to  Paris,  in  what 
end?" 

"Please  your  Eminence,  he  is  travelling  to 
Belgium  to  receive  the  lace  made  at  the  con- 
vents for  the  wedding  garments  of  a  niece  of 
Aldobrandini." 

"To  Brussels,  whither  Prince  Gaston  has 
fled!  that  Demon  of  Rebellion?" 

"The  legate  is  certainly  travelling  to  Brus- 
sels," repeated  Carre,  toying  with  his  whip, 
"for  I  have  acquaintances  along  the  road.  I 
heard  before  I  met  him  that  the  relays  had 
been  prepared  for  his  passage  North." 

"Who  is  this  envoy  to  Brussels?" 

"His  name  is  Mazarini — one  Signor  Giulio — " 

Richelieu's  countenance,  despite  himself,  was 
irradiated  with  intelligence.  A  good  player  in 
that  great  game  of  chess  called  Diplomacy,  he 
remembered  the  least  of  the  pawns,  still  more 
the  pieces  which  now  and  then  came  forward 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  501 

and  displayed  their  possible  power.  He  re- 
called an  agent  of  the  Nuncio  who  had  pui 
an  end  to  the  Siege  of  Casale,  in  the  teeth  of 
two  great  armies,  whose  clashing  he  stayed. 
It  was  the  outset  of  the  good  fortune  which 
ended  in  Mazarin,  as  he  Frenchified  his  name, 
occupying  that  chair  which  Richelieu  was 
about  to  vacate. 

"The  lackey  of  Cardinal  Bentivoglio,  our  cor- 
respondent, his  secretary  after,  his  protege! 
an  upstart,"  said  Richelieu,  too  aristocratic  to 
forgive  this  intruder,  whatever  his  ability. 
"Well,  this  Signor  Mazarini  is  coming  here — " 

"He  is  here!  Though  his  orders  direct  ex- 
treme haste,  for  the  marriage  is  fixed,  and  the 
roads  in  winter  will  be  heavy,  he  did  not  need 
my  suggestion  that  he  should  grasp  the  op- 
portunity to  pay  his  homage  to  your  Eminence. 
Meeting  me,  recognising  me,  I  know  not  how," 
continued  the  priest,  glancing  at  his  horse- 
man's attire,  "he  begged  me  to  return  and  in- 
troduce him." 

Richelieu  was  a  thorough  ecclesiastic,  thanks 
to  Tutor  Joseph;  as  politician,  he  understood 
how  little  the  priest's  suggestoin  would  have 
moved  a  Papal  representative.  In  a  moment 
he  had  taken  his  course. 

"This  legate  to  neutral  parts,"  thought  he, 
"comes  to  announce  to  me  whom  the  Vatican 
wishes  to  see  in  my  stead.  Besides,  he  wants 
a  hint  how  to  deal  with  this  brood  of  conspir- 
ators at  Brussels.  We  will  be  mutually  grate- 
ful— he  for  what  arms  1  furnish  him,  I  for  a 
glimpse  at  my  successor!  Oh,  that  Laffemas 
had   been — " 

Carre  was  exchanging  a  glance,  meaning 
much  in  the  sign-language,  with  his  brother 
priest. 


502  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"But  your  own  errand?"  demanded  Richelieu 
of  Carre. 

"In  the  envoy's  retinue  was  the  person  to 
whom  I  was  to  deliver  the  message  at  Rome. 
He  had  the  advice  already  in  answer,  which 
M.  Sublet  des  Noyers,  there,  is  putting  into 
French  out  of  the  cipher." 

He  had  met  his  master's  gaze  tranquilly. 

The  latter  nodded  with  satisfaction. 

Thus  emboldened  Carre  concluded: 

"This  messenger  went  on  to  Father  Joseph, 
who  is  at  his  monastery — " 

"I  know." 

The  Minister  left  the  occult  plotters  in  his 
friend's  hands,  assured  his  interests  were  safe. 
Again  he  nodded  and  this  time  spoke: 

"Take  this  other  letter  with  it.     To  him!" 

Carre  fidgeted  a  moment  while  the  secretary 
finished  the  translation,  took  it  and  hurried 
out,  as  if  happy  at  not  receiving  a  castigation 
or  being  further  delayed. 

On  his  way  out  he  passed  the  extraordinary 
envoy  of  the  Vatican,  without  either  appear- 
ing to  notice  the  other  within  the  Palais  Car- 
dinal. Stranger  still,  Carre  did  not  appear  to 
look  for  the  letter-bearer  from  whom  he  re- 
ceived the  cipher-despatch,  but  who  had  prob- 
ably gone  on  to  Father  Joseph's  residence  at 
his  convent  in  St.  Honore  Street. 

The  young  Italian  representing  the  Holy  See, 
in  little  resembled  a  churchman  but  this  was 
nothing  in  a  day  when  religion  was  a  cloak  for 
diplomats  and  swordsmen  at  need.  It  was 
understood  at  home  that  Mazarini  had  left  him- 
self a  loophole  or  two  in  the  vows.  In  the 
same  manner  as  Father  Carre  equipped  him- 
self to  avoid  trouble  on  the  highway,  Signor 
Giulio  had  donned  the  semi-military  costume 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  503 

authorising  weapon-bearing.  His  suit  was 
blue  and  white,  not  conspicuous  under  the  vol- 
uminous horseman's  cloak,  which  he  had  Hung 
on  the  saddle-pommel  when  he  dismounted  to 
follow  his  introductor  indoors. 

He  wore  silver  spurs,  and  his  baldric,  to 
which  hung  a  fine  but  no  doubt  serviceable  ra- 
pier, was  fringed  with  the  same  metal. 

His  complexion  was  dark  and  his  slight  mus- 
tache jet  black;  if  he  were  tonsured,  removal 
of  his  blue  hat  with  a  white  plume  did  not 
show  it,  as  his  raven  hair  was  so  arranged  as 
to  hide  any  loss.  His  eves  were  excellent,  and 
no  diamond  shot  lustre  more  trying  to  those 
on  whom  the  glances  fell.  He  wTas  small  of 
stature,  but  graceful  as  a  southron;  perfectly 
trained  in  the  gentlemanly  accomplishments, 
not  unusual  in  one  born  to  be  a  playfellow 
and  servitor  to  the  noble.  His  features  sug- 
gested luxury;  as  later  they  indicated  avarice; 
luxury  he  adored  now  like  one  brought  up  in 
poverty;  in  no  other  way  did  he  betray  his 
reigning  vice. 

The  French  Premier's  whetted  glance  stud- 
ied this  visitor  whose  tendency  to  foppery  he 
disliked;  too  fine  were  those  gloves  on  plump 
hands,  as  too  finnikin  the  suspension  of  his 
sword;  too  fluffy  the  blue  and  snowry  plumes 
and  the  Morocco  leather  boots,  suppled  ex- 
tremely, might  have  pleased  a  princess  accus- 
tomed to  velvet. 

But  Richelieu  owned  that  the  eyes  were  in- 
telligent in  no  petty  degree.  He  judged  that 
Bentivoglio's  footboy  must  have  merited  pro- 
motion to  become  that  erudite's  correspondent, 
and  read  and  answer  his  confidential  communi- 
cations to  the  brother  Cardinal.  Besides,  the 
Holy  See  would  not  select  a  mere  minion  to 


504  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

deal  with  that  serpent  in  the  bag  of  eels,  oth- 
erwise called  Gaston  of  Orleans,  amid  his 
cronies  at  Brussels. 

The  kittens,  playing  upon  their  master,  had 
started  and  arched  the  back  upon  Father 
Carre's  alarming  entrance,  but  they  were  not 
frightened  by  the  foreigner's  approach,  so  light 
was  his  step,  spite  of  riding  boots  and  spurs 
which  compelled  him  to  walk  tiptoe  not  to 
tear  the  rugs.  On  the  contrary,  they  purred 
as  he  gracefully  took  a  seat — without  fencing 
as  to  the  excess  of  honor  done  him — for  an 
armchair  was  wheeled  by  Father  Ange,  at  a 
sign,  nearer  the  master. 

But  the  dullest  of  the  sharp  clerks  little 
doubted  that  His  Holiness's  carrier-dove,  for 
all  his  pure  cerulean  hues  and  innocent  white 
plumage,  did  not  make  a  break  on  his  journey 
to  the  royal  plotter's  haunt,  merely  to  repeat 
formal  good  wishes  and  express  admiration  for 
the  great  statesman. 

With  the  speed  of  statecraft's  chosen,  know- 
ing when  to  drop  periphrases,  the  two  glided 
almost  instantly  into  conversation,  questions 
and  answers  flying  across  like  two  duellists' 
blades,  so  low  in  tone  though  perfect  in  accent, 
for  the  new-comer  was  glib  at  French  as  if 
long  destined  to  use  it,  that  Ange,  if  he  lis- 
tened, had  his  pains  for  nothing.  The  only 
interruption  was  when  the  priest  offered  the 
cough-elixir  to  anticipate  a  fit  of  coughing,  or 
the  kittens,  charmed  by  Mazarin's  voice  and 
manner,  leaped  on  him,  and  allowed  his  gloved 
fingers  to  trace  cabalistic  figures  on  their 
supple  backs — those  tangible  letters  in  feline 
language  which  delight  such  pets. 

One  in  particular,  noticeable  for  a  black 
patch  extending  regularly  down  across  its  eyes 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  50S 

upon  immaculate  snow,  opened  and  shut  its 
fine  claws  and  whirred  out  its  pleasure,  like  a 
locust. 

"How  now.  .Master  Harlequin!"  exclaimed 
the  Italian,  stopping  in  an  important  phrase, 
without  impatience  and  without  apology, 
"think  you  we  are  in  carnival  time  because,  like 
you,  everybody  wears  a  mask?" 

"Except  us,"  said  the  Cardinal;  then  to  Ange 
he  observed :  "Here  is  a  good  character — lie 
likes  cats." 

"He  has  an  enviable  disposition,"  subjoined 
the  priest,  who  might  have  had  a  cue  to  laud 
the  visitor;  "they  like  him!" 

"He  who  pleases  cats,  will  please  women!" 
added  the  Minister.  "Handle  him  tenderly," 
continued  he  to  Mazarin,  around  whose  hand 
the  masked  kitten  was  curling.  "Beauseant, 
as  we  call  him,  in  remembrance  of  the  Knight 
Templars'  black-and-white  banner,  is  an  illus- 
trious feline — " 

"Indeed?''  said  the  other,  in  no  way  resent- 
ing this  inconsequential  interlude. 

"A  lineal  descendant  of  Piallion,  the  cele- 
brated cat  of  Mdlle.  de  Gournay — " 

"Ah,  the  heroine  of  the  hoaxes  which  amused 
Taris,"  interposed  the  stranger,  to  show  he  was 
conversant  with  minor  celebrities,  if  not  with 
their  domestic  pets,  through  the    Chroniques. 

"Exactly;  and  entertained  our  King,  who  is 
not  easily  entertained — like  his  brother  is!" 

"He  suffers  with  the  true  King's-ovil,  I  hear, 
listlessness,"  returned  Mazarin.  "Hence,  since 
he  stands  in  need  of  a  zest,  I  snatch  at  this 
chance  to  implore  your  Eminence,"  drawing  a 
case  out  of  an  inner  pocket,  "to  present #his 
Majesty  with  this  piece  of  mechanism,  unique 
in  idea." 


506     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

The  Minister  opened  the  ease. 

"Travelling  incognito,  as  I  do,"  went  on  the 
Papal  legate,  "and  fresh  from  corning  out  of 
this  honorable  reception  by  your  Eminence,  1 
may  not  further  delay  my  mission  to  appear 
before  their  Majesties  the  King  and  Queen." 

"Quite  right.  A  bride  intended  must  not 
have  her  happy  day  retarded,"  said  the  old 
statesman  with  an  ambiguous  smile. 

He  watched  the  envoy  as  a  commander  of 
an  army  watches  that  specially  appointed  staff- 
officer  whom  he  suspects  to  carry  sealed  orders 
to  supersede  him  in  a  certain  event. 

"I  would  never  oppose  or  impede  union," 
said  Ma.zarin. 

Richelieu  dropped  his  eyes,  as  if  satisfied,  on 
the  object  within  the  case. 

"It  is  a  pear,  carved  right  cunningly  in  box- 
wood, and  the  stem  is  of  iron." 

"The  stem  is  the  key,  my  lord,"  continued 
the  foreigner  as  sweetly  as  if  he  were  present- 
ing a  real  fruit;  "it  is  the  work  of  a  distin- 
guished artificer  of  Brescia,  named  Adriano, 
and  he  calls  it  the  'Fruit  of  Silence.'  Inserted 
within  the  mouth  of  a  noisy  prisoner,  and  ex- 
panded by  a  turn  or  two  of  the  key,  it  distends 
the  toughest  jaws,  and  while,  gently  applied, 
stifling  clamor,  it  will,  on  a  less  lenient  scale, 
stifle  the  prisoner!" 

The  Minister  caressed  the  small  but  potent 
engine  (which  was,  in  a  later  reign,  to  make 
the  robber  band  using  "the  pear  of  anguish" 
the  terror  of  Paris). 

"The  Fruit  of  Silence!  Hum!  It  will  inter- 
est the  King,  who  likes  silence  and  mechani- 
cal toys.  But,"  said  Richelieu  witli  a  cold 
accent  which  froze  Father  Ange  and  caused 
the  glib  Italian  to  hem  and  haw,  "it  is  my  duty, 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  SOU 


as  his   Minister,  to  test    the  engine  before   I 
lay  it  before  him!" 

Thereupon,  without  transition,  he  returned 
to  their  colloquy,  and  heaven  only  knows  what 
plots  were  debated  which  involved  the  over- 
turning (»f  thrones  and  snapping  rods  of  the 
Powers.  Mazarin  seemed  astounded  at  meet- 
ing the  embodiment  of  true  political  genius. 

"He  is  the  helmsman  to  steer  the  Ship  of 
State  in  all  weathers,"  concluded  the  visitor, 
"and  better,  he  will  preserve  her  for  the  suc- 
ceeding pilot.  He  is  too  ill,  and  has  no  self- 
deception  on  this  point — to  leave  the  kingdom; 
it  is  not  for  himself  that  the  French  contingent 
would  sway  the  Conclave  to  elect  a  French 
Tope.  It  is  our  grim  Father  Joseph!  and  They 
must  be  warned  rather  against  him — not  his 
master,  on  my  return." 

Enthralled  by  each  other,  both  as  talker  and 
listener,  so  rare  are  great  men  with  this  dual 
gift — long  was  their  discussion,  far  from  a  pass- 
ing chat. 

Richelieu  had  divined  that  here  was  his  se- 
lected successor,  and  though  he  chafed  at  hav- 
ing the  right  of  appointment  thus  taken  from 
him.  he  had  to  admit  that  he  knew  of  nobody 
worthier.  Mazarin  was  fortified  at  every  point 
where  he  "felt"  him,  as  fencers  say. 


508  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

THE   KISS  OF  PEACE. 

Most  unexpectedly,  in  that  palace  where  the 
death-like  silence  almost  proclaimed  the  ten- 
ant's sickness,  unusual  confusion  started  at 
the  gates  and  soon  pervaded  the  mansion.  It 
was  as  unpardonable  as  a  clashing  of  swords 
in  a  royal  park.  The  main  doors  opened  with 
violence  and — surrounded  by  guards  and  ush- 
ers, too  closely  intermixed  to  use  their  staves 
and  rods — Father  Carre  again  appeared,  as  if 
borne  on  the  front  of  a  tempest.  He  was  more 
disconcerted  than  when  buffeted  back  from 
his  mission. 

"Oh,  my  lord!"  he  broke  forth  in  grief.  "Oh, 
oh,  my  good  lord!"  His  consternation  was 
overcome  abruptly  and  he  had  the  supernat- 
ural power  to  overcome  the  guards.  "Come, 
come  away!  Father  Joseph!  the  Capuchin 
Father  is  ill — very  bad — dying!" 

"Joseph,  dying!" 

The  Prime  Minister  sat  up  like  a  Pharaoh 
to  whom  in  his  sarcophagus  the  high-priest  had 
at  last  administered  the  reviving  draught 
which  made  man  of  the  mummy,  while  Mazarin 
sprang  to  his  feet  and  clapped  his  hand  to 
his  sword-side  as  though  expecting  to  be  fal- 
len upon  and  cut  to  pieces.  It  was  the  act, 
not  of  a  guilty  man,  perhaps,  to  whom  the  de- 
lightful reception  was  a  snare,  but  of  one  who 
believed  he  was  innocently  entangled  in  a 
crime. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  509 

"My  best  friend !  Joseph !  Did  you  say,  dying! 
My  poor,  dearest,  truest  friend  and  counsellor!" 
stammered  Richelieu,  shaking  with  an  im- 
mense struggle  to  overrule  the  clinging  fetters 

of  disease. 

The  alarm  and  distress  gave  him  heart — did 
not  dispirit  him.  He  stood  up,  unassisted,  like 
a  captain  in  a  siege,  after  a  monstrous  explo- 
sion, who  hears  that  his  first  officer  has  been 
slain  and  all  the  defence  centres  on  himself. 

He  stepped  outwards  three  paces,  stopping, 
without  resting  a  hand  on  the  table  or  on  the 
secretary,  Chavigny,  who  rushed  to  support 
him. 

"My  valet,  to  dress  me!"  cried  he,  with  the 
sonorous  voice  not  heard  in  that  volume  for 
years.  "My  litter  to  be  ready!  Let  the  two 
mounted  musketeers  at  the  portals  be  replaced 
while  they  ride  to  bring  Dr.  Herouard  and 
Dr.  Letellier — any  great  doctor — to  the  Ca- 
puchin Convent  in  St.  Honore  Street.  Let  all 
succor  be  speeded  thereto  as  to  me!" 

Mazarini  had  quietly  withdrawn  into  a  cor- 
ner; then,  to  the  door;  beckoned  to  Ange  and 
Carre,  and  they  went  out  with  him,  all  in  a 
rush  of  servants  obeying  the  orders.  Perhaps, 
as  a  foreigner,  he  desired  their  conduct  to 
convey  him  out  of  the  Cardinal's  Palace. 

The  ante-room  buzzed  like  a  hive:  it  was 
crammed  with  gentlemen,  Richelieu's  pension- 
ers, soldiers,  servants;  all  turmoil,  bewilder- 
ment and  a  little  sorrow — not  for  Joseph,  but 
in  sympathy  with  him  who  lost  his  colleague. 

"What  does  this  mean?"  inquired  the  envoy 
of  the  priests. 

Ange  shook  his  head. 

"I  ought  rather  to  ask  you,  sir!"  said  Carre, 
roughly,  as  if  his  dress  gave  him  a  cavalier'^ 


510  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

license.  "His  Eminence  in  Grey  was  left  with 
the  message,  coming  in  your  train,  and  he  is 
dying — may  be,  is  dead  by  this  speaking — like 
one  on  whom  a  heaven-stone  drops!" 

"Apoplexy,"  said  Mazarini. 

"A  man  who  drinks  water!" 

"Nevertheless,  he  has  had  a  stroke  or  two!" 

Decidedly,  this  foreigner  was  too  well  in- 
formed on  doings  and  persons  in  Paris. 

"The  Cardinal!  the  Cardinal!"  cried  a  man, 
in  a  black  suit  but  not  clerical,  wearing  a 
smile  of  joy  which  strongly  crossed  the  gener- 
al expression  donned  as  the  news  spread. 

"Who  are  you?  I  am  the  Cardinal's  confes- 
sor," said  Ange,  throwing  himself  before  the 
intruder. 

"I  am  Dr.  Themines,  come  to  receive  his  final 
instructions  before  my  departure  to  Africa  to 
study  the  Black  Plague!" 

"Per  Bacclio!"  interjected  Mazarini,  show- 
ing his  fine  teeth,  "go  with  his  Eminence  a 
little  nearer  home!   vou  mav  studv  his  Prince- 

«  *  «, 

ship  of  Darkness  without  that  journey!  Acldio, 
brothers,"  continued  he  to  the  priests  with  a 
fillip  of  his  fingers,  "I  spy  the  outer  doors!  I 
will  repeat  your  compliments  to  the  fathers  at 
Douai,  Arras  and  Brussels!"  At  the  gateway, 
where  he  mounted  his  rested  horse,  he  saw 
the  great  litter  forge  up  for  the  Cardinal's 
transportation.  He  crossed  himself  as  though 
it  were  a  hearse,  and  rapidly  rode  off,  followed 
by  his  equerry  and  grooms,  not  unlike  a  mili- 
tary escort. 

Not  so  much  as  five  minutes  subsequently, 
the  litter,  containing  the  Minister,  was  steadily 
proceeding  upon  the  broad  shoulders  of  por- 
ters, picked  from  the  "Strong  Men"  of  the  Mar- 
kets, to  the  Capuchin  Monastery. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  511 

When  all  their  speed  brought  Richelieu  with- 
in its  told  entrance,  he  seemed  t<>  have  arrived 
too  late.  His  beloved  and  devoted  adherent 
lay  inert  on  the  abbot's  large  but  coarse  bed, 
no  better  than  the  Craters'  pallets,  to  which  in 
his  austerity  lie  had  inured  himself. 

lie  had  fallen  down  in  his  room,  study  and 
parlor  in  one,  as  Carre  reported,  and  they  had 
placed  him  where  he  passed  his  last  sleep  to 
sleep  his  last. 

At  the  Minister's  entrance,  the  monk-surgeon 
went  out,  feeling  his  presence  was  doubly  su- 
perfluous. 

But  Themiues  had  taken  Mazarini's  hint.  He 
accompanied  the  Minister  who  approved  (as.  he 
stood  by,  panting  after  the  ascent  up  one  flight 
of  broad  stairs,  on  his  arm)  the  volunteer's  try- 
ing the  Capuchin's  pulse  at  wrist  and  breast. 

At  the  door,  Carre  shook  his  head  ominously 
for  enlightenment  of  the  followers  who  lined 
the  passage  and  steps. 

"His  heart  beats,"  said  Themines,  "but  the 
side  is  dead  to  the  right.  I  call  this  apoplexy," 
in  a  loud  voice,  "and  the  third  stroke!" 

As  if  reassured  by  this  dictum,  which  was 
overheard  by  many  without,  Carre  went  away 
and  closed  the  door. 

The  letter  in  Joseph's  hand  when  he  fell 
stricken,  lay  on  a  desk-table.  Unable  to  help 
since  the  Breton  delivered  this  sentence  and 
attended  to  the  patient  with  imperturbable 
concern,  the  visitor  examined  this  paper.  Noth- 
ing more  innocuous — even  ext raucous  to  a 
shock.  Just  one  of  those  gossipy  letters  ex- 
changed between  priests  when  correspondents 
from  an  early  age  after  being  fellow-seminar- 
ists. The  monk  of  St.  Maria  del  Monte  sent  his 
patroness's  blessing  to  his  brother  of  St.  Dom- 


512     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

inick  and  recited  the  Roman  quidnuncs'  prat- 
tlings.  A  battered  torso  had  been  unearthed,  a 
noted  painter  had  finished  a  painting  yet  to  be 
famed,  this  shrine  had  a  new  lamp,  that  was 
heaped  with  votive  offerings  for  a  miracle,  in 
short,  all  that  beguiled  ''the  Mistress  of  the 
World''  was  mentioned,  but  of  politics  not  a 
word. 

It  was  not  a  cryptogram;  in  vain  did  the 
Premier,  proficient  in  secret  writing,  endeavor 
to  see  a  meaning  in  words  picked  out  and  pe- 
culiarly rearranged. 

"Then,  why  a  special  messenger  to  bear  this 
nonsense,  in  the  Papal  agent's  train?"  he  puz- 
zled, terribly  frowning. 

If  the  letter  were  unassuming  and  non-mys- 
terious, its  seal  was  massive  for  its  simplicity; 
out  of  the  broken  wax  projected  a  familiar  em- 
blem, a  lamb  in  lead.  But  the  churchman  took 
it  out  carefully  and  scrutinised  it  as  though 
it  were  the  key  to  the  dark  problem.  He  had 
become  too  interested  to  heed  the  apparent 
corpse  which  Dr.  Themines  was  resolutely  try- 
ing to  resuscitate. 

From  the  cold  lips  came  a  sigh. 

Richelieu  turned  round  as  though  a  serpent 
had  stung  him. 

"The  veins  are  turning  blue,"  remarked  the 
doctor;   "this  is  a  vegetable  poison." 

He  said  this  in  a  low  tone,  with  a  kind  of 
professional  enthusiasm,  totally  different  from 
the  matter-of-fact  one  in  which  he  had  publicly 
announced  "Apoplexy." 

Richelieu  bit  his  lip,  leaned  on  the  head- 
board of  the  bed,  and  with  the  other  hand 
silently  extended  the  letter  with  its  broken 
seal  and  the  metal  image. 

Themines  examined  both,  seemed  to  collect 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  513 

memories  bearing  OD  such  an  incident,  referred 
to  the  dying  man  with  a  look,  and  pronounced: 

"My  lord,  this  man  is  slain  by  an  alkaloid  of 
the  poppy  plant,  very  subtle  and  concentrated. 
This  Agnus  Dei  is  in  some  way  impregnated 
with  it,  or  haply  it  is  the  minute  phial  which 
contained  the  quintessence.  He  has  pressed  it 
to  his  lips  and  so  imbibed  the  deadliness.  Sci- 
ence provides  no  remedy." 

A  cry  without:  "The  doctors!  room  for  the 
Cardinal's  physician!  room  for  the  royal  phy- 
sician!" made  Joseph  stir. 

His  lips  seemed  turned  to  lead,  in  color  and 
solidity,  but  he  spoke  intelligibly  if  with  dif- 
flculty: 

"Armand!  good!  let  us  be  alone,  my  son!" 

Themines  did  not  immediately  obey  the  kind 
of  order:  Joseph's  desire  always  was  a  com- 
mand. He  had  opened  a  leather  case  in  which 
were  surgical  instruments  and  sundry  tiny 
phials.  One  of  the  latter  he  held  out  to  Rich- 
elieu, saying: 

"Not  a  counter-poison,  but  it  may  give  a 
short  renewal  of  the  lease  of  life." 

The  Cardinal  in  Red  took  it,  and  allowed  the 
doctor  to  retire.  At  the  door  the  latter  ob- 
served coolly: 

"I  shall  keep  my  brother-ravens  at  bay!  They 
are  useless  here.  Enough  for  my  head  to  be  at 
stake  over  this  secret." 

"This  is  a  man!"  said  the  Minister.  "Do  so!" 
The  door  shut.  "This  Themines  will  efface  the 
blood-blot  from  my  brother's  death- wound! 
inflicted  by  his  father." 

Father  Joseph  approved  of  the  isolation  with 
a  sparkle  of  the  eye;  he  said  in  a  voice  some- 
thing stronger: 

"My  dear  Armand,  your  pardon!  Give  it  with 


514  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  same  promptitude  you  showed  in  hasten- 
ing here." 

"Anything!" 

"You  know  how,  long,  long  since,  I  deter- 
mined that  nothing  should  trammel  vou  in  your 
elevation  to  the  chair  of  State.  Love  of  any 
kind  would  have  hampered  King  Henry  the 
Fourth's  project — paternal  love  no  less  strong- 
ly than  others." 

"Paternal  love!" 

"Have  no  doubt  on  one  thing!  Ramire  bore 
you  a  child — a  son — " 

"Yes!  but  it  is— " 

"Laffemas  be  accurst  as  an  impostor  and  a 
murderer!"  vociferated  the  Capuchin  with  in- 
credible force,  but  the  doors  are  solid  in  con- 
ventual buildings. 

After  this  outburst  of  un-Christian  feeling, 
he  writhed  as  if  remorse  had  gripped  him  and 
tormented  him. 

"Norbert,  an  impostor — Norbert  has  mur- 
dered you,  my  sole  adviser  and  firmest  friend!" 
furiously  began  Richelieu. 

The  moribund  thrust  out  his  lips  in  con- 
tempt. 

The  other  feared  a  relapse.  It  was  apparent, 
besides,  that  the  poison  was  mastering  the  un- 
fortunate man  in  all  life's  channels.  The  Min- 
ister held  out  the  phial  Themines  had  ready,  in 
times  when  odd  diseases  were  freely  ascribed 
to  drugs,  but  Joseph  hesitated. 

"Whence  comes  it?  what  doctor,  you  ask? 
By  name  Themines,  his  father  slew  Henri  in 
that  duel ;  but,  since,  I  have  been  generous  to 
the  family.  I  foster  this  man,  by  your  intro- 
duction, to  carry  out  a  noble  project.  A  Bre- 
ton's brain  is  not  a  soil  in  which  ingratitude 
flourishes." 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  515 

Joseph  took  the  counter-poison  in  a  long 
draught,  without  further  cavilling.  He  had 
studied  Thymines.  If  not  relieved,  he  was  re- 
freshed to  continue  his  relation. 

"dean  Laffemas  dared  not  aim  at  my  life," 
said  he  in  a  faint  hut  steady  voice.  "This  is 
work  of  a  more  audacious  hand.  Yet  he  may 
have  suggested  this  attack  through  Cheret, 
who  might  tell  him  to  whom  to  write  at  Rome. 
Cheret  must  have  pierced  the  mystery  of  my 
correspondence.  But  Laffemas  has  murdered, 
with  a  poison  little  less  deadly  and  insidious 
than  this — oh,  what  anguish!  but  I  must  say 
on.  Laffemas,  at  Blois,  murdered  one  he  be- 
lieved to  be  his  grandam,  a  second  mother  to 
him.  The  recital  is  in  writing — all  that  the 
seal  of  confession  allows.  There,  in  the  press 
in  the  north  wall.  Here  is  the  key.  Take  the 
account  and  use  it  as  a  scourge.  Well,  you  can 
punish  him;  surely  heaven  was  never  so  untrue 
in  its  teachings  as  to  make  your  heart  throb 
paternally  towards  that  villain.  No;  Ramire's 
son  is  an  obscure  gentleman  whom  no  one  has 
patronised,  save  myself,  and  I  durst  not  let 
his  prospects  be  guessed  at  by  him !  The  eaglet 
would  have  soared  straight  to  the  sun!  It  is 
the  antagonist  of  Saverny's  lord,  in  that  com- 
bat bringing  their  necks  to  the  halter." 

"Didier!"  cried  the  hearer,  who  had  ran 
sacked  the  clothespress  in  the  wall  and  scanned 
the  documents  relating  to  Didier's  birth,  bring- 
ing up  at  Blois,  Joseph's  attention  to  him,  and 
his  duel.  "My  son  is  this  Didier.  whom  I  seem 
to  have  particularly  persecuted?" 

Joseph  twisted  and  turned,  gasping  like  one 
whose  heart  is  a  source  of  torture  and  pressed 
his  side  like  an  African  juggler-doctor  manipu- 
lating the  haunt  of  a  demon. 


516  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"And  it  is  Laffemas  who  is  charged  with  his 
execution!  By  me,  too!" 

He  turned  as  though  to  dart  out  of  the  room. 

"Armand,  forgive  me!  I  thought  of  nothing 
but  the  welfare  of  France  and  your  glory!" 

"But  my  son,  condemned  by  me,  after  the 
King  would  have  spared  him — relenting  for  an 
old  man's  tears  and  a  woman's  prayers!  Oh, 
Joseph,  the  patriarch  felt  no  keener  pang  when 
he  bared  Isaac's  bosom  for  the  sacrificial 
knife!" 

The  dying  one  saw  that  rarity:  a  tear  in 
Richelieu's  eye. 

"Blind  one,  that  son  would  have  been  a 
power  the  more  to  me!  And,  at  my  death,  a 
consolation!  Now  I  leave  neither  name  nor 
remainder  on  earth!" 

"Mayhap  I  advised  you  badly,"  sighed  the 
monk,  but  obstinately  as  if  unbelieving.  "But 
forgive  my  error,  and  all  else.  I  am  thus  pun- 
ished for  keeping  a  secret  from  you  in  which 
we  should  have  co-operated.  But  I  doubted 
that  you  would  wish  well  to  a  rival  ambition! 
I  planned  to  become  Pope  that  I  might  aid 
you  with  your  temporal  kingdom,  while  I  ruled 
the  universal  spiritual  one.  They  have  annihi- 
lated the  hope,  and  made  me  carrion!  but  I 
forgive!  Armand,  no  more  secret  executions! 
fewer  still  of  the  public  ones  without  public 
benefit!  Preserve  life — so  dear,  so  impossible 
for  man  to  lengthen!  France  will  need  every 
son  of  hers  in  the  approaching  epoch  of  dis- 
rupture!  A  child  king,  a  minister  who  will  ally 
himself  rather  with  the  Queen  than  the  virile 
parties!  I  foresee  such  miseries!  O  God  save 
France  in  the  chaotic  time  at  hand!"' 

"No  more  revenge,  say  you?"  said  the  Pre- 
mier, "not  upon  the  asp  warmed  in  my  breast 


OR.  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  5  1  7 

and  who  springs  upon  my  son  for  his  dear  life! 
My  son!  oh,  my  s»m!  No  more  revenge  when 
you  arc  brought  low,  cut  short  in  your  mighty 
ambition,  which  I  misprised,  by  perhaps  the 
same  ingrate?    Bui  what  engine  slew  you?" 

"My  own  lips!  my  foolish  gratitude  to  the 
demon  of  Ambition !  In  my  joy  at  receiving  the 
news  apparently  crowning  my  operations,  I 
gave  the  Kiss  of  Peace  upon  that  Agnus  Dei, 
token  I  had  won  my  last  opponents  over!  The 
script  meant  nothing,  but  that  was  token  that 
1  could  name  the  candidate  sure  to  be  success- 
ful at  the  next  Conclave!" 

"The  blessed  lamb  was  poisoned!"  groaned 
Richelieu,  crushing  up  the  leaden  toy  in  his 
grasp  with  vigor  of  repugnance;  "sacrilege! 
They  shall  burn  at  the  stake  for  this!" 

"And  I,"  moaned  the  Capuchin,  "who  for 
years  have  drunk  water  of  my  own  drawing, 
eaten  eggs  of  my  own  boiling,  culled  greens 
from  my  own  gardens!  I,  fool,  fool,  triple  fool! 
I  kissed  the  image,  and  I  die,  my  poor  Armand, 
like  a  rat  in  a  cranny," 

His  self-blame  at  his  single  oversight  seemed 
to  redouble  his  sufferings. 

"Hark!  the  doctors  are  wrangling  for  en- 
trance!" 

"Go!  leave  me,  to  save  your  son!  he  is  a 
noble  fellow!  who  has  borne  his  miseries  man- 
fully! but  do  not  balk  his  love!  remember  your 
unhappiness  from  my  banishing  Raniire!  save 
him  and  on  the  confession  of  Dame  Laffemas, 
convict  that  monster!" 

"lint  you  have  lingered  long — that  doctor 
said  this  was  a  counter-bane!" 

"If  so,  he  was  deceived!  I  was  doomed!  They 
reckoned  on  my  taking  off!" 

"Define  the  'They!'  "  cried  Richelieu,  with 


518  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

fury,  "and  by  all  my  hopes,  based  on  that  re- 
stored son,  if  heaven  spares  him,  I  will — " 

"No,  forgive  Them,  as  I  do.1' 

"  'Shall  not  Zimri  die  who  slew  his  master's 
son?'  "  said  the  Cardinal,  in  Latin. 

"Memento,  Domine!"  sighed  Joseph  du  Trein- 
bla}r,  as  if  the  ecclesiastical  language  prompted 
him  in  prayer.  "  'Princes  have  persecuted  me 
and  wounded  the  heart  within  me,'  but  I  ran 
the  furrow  that  the  harvest  should  be  Thine, 
Lord!     Deliver  me,  O  my  God!" 

"And  He  hath  said:  'The  Gates  shall  not 
prevail  against  thee!'"  muttered  the  Minister 
bitterly,  wringing  his  thin  hands  as  he  con- 
templated the  statue  whose  blue  lips  scarcely 
parted. 

Feeling  his  weakness,  he,  called  almost  the 
Omnipotent  among  men,  felt  his  wrath  like  his 
sorrow  abruptly  fade;  he  joined  involuntarily 
in  the  dying  one's  prayer,  when,  suddenly,  as 
though  their  united  supplications  brought  on  a 
miracle,  the  supposed  corpse  gained  color  on 
the  blanched  cheek,  the  lips  ceased  to  be  swol- 
len, and  a  shivering,  not  horrible  but  like  a 
healthy  thrill,  pervaded  the  wasted  frame. 

The  Capuchin  flung  off  the  bedclothes,  rose 
around,  upon  his  sharp  knees,  and  moved  on 
them  along  the  bed  to  the  headboard.  There 
he  drew  himself  upright  by  his  hands,  steadied 
himself  with  one  of  them,  for  he  began  to  turn 
rigid,  and  extended  his  right  hand  with  the 
fingers  partly  open.  As  if  he  were  at  a  win- 
dow, gazing  on  a  multitude  beneath  the  ledge 
— the  window  of  the  Benedizione  Loggia — he 
made  widely  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  cried  in  a 
voice  so  loud  that  it  echoed  down  the  corridor 
almost  to  the  street  doors: 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  SI 9 

"May  the  blessings  of  the  Trinity  befall  ye 
and  dwell  among  ye  till  everlasting!" 

"Amen!"  cried  Richelieu  in  a  voice  almost  as 
lusty. 

He  reached  forward,  but  the  stiffening  frame 
fell  without  the  least  animation  in  his  em- 
brace. The  shock  overpowered  him  for  he,  too, 
lav  motionless  on  the  couch,  beside  his  precep- 
tor.  Slowly,  he  disengaged  himself  of  the 
weight. 

"Happy  man!'-  sighed  he.  "For  a  space,  he 
believed  himself  Spiritual  Lord  of  the  World!" 

He  tottered  towards  the  entrance,  but  at  ran- 
dom, not  remembering  where  he  wTas,  or  what 
had  passed.  He  was  merely  endeavoring  to 
elude  this  spectre  which  had  torn  his  Right 
Hand  from  him  and  darted  a  rankling  arrow  in- 
to his  breast.  Suddenly  a  prodigious  senti- 
ment overcame  the  paralysis. 

"My  son!  he  assured  me  that  this  Didier  is 
my  son!  that  Laffemas  is  deceiver  and  mur- 
derer!" 

Instanth7  he  recovered  not  his  natural  cool- 
ness but  preternatural  condition.  Abnormal 
strength  became  his. 

With  cleared  eye,  steady  step  and  a  nimble 
hand,  he  felt  in  his  bosom  where  he  had  placed 
tiie  papers  telling  Ramire's  sad  story,  blessed 
that  name  as  if  a  saint's,  and  muttered: 

"This  dog  Laffemas  knows  his  fraud.  How 
he  must  hate  the  true  heir!  And  I  persisted 
in  trying  to  overrule  Providence  that  softened 
the  King — it  is  I  who  sent  Joab  to  Absalom 
and  said:  'Deal  not  gently  with  him!'  How- 
ever greatly  I  have  sinned,  on  this  earth,  in 
fulness  has  come  my  punishment.  But  the 
pride  of  my  heart  is  humbled.  Lord,  be  merci- 
ful to  the  meanest  of  Thy  servants!" 


520  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

He  opened  the  door.  On  the  other  side,  the 
gathering  was  devoured  with  anxiety,  since 
they  heard  Joseph's  tremendous  outcry. 

All  were  astonished  to  see  their  master  so 
firm,  strong  and  calm,  for  they  knew  how  deep- 
ly he  loved  him  who  certainly  was  no  more. 

"I  have  lost  my  main  support,"  said  he  with 
fortitude.  "To  the  lamented  dead  let  all  the 
honors  be  shown,  due  a  prince  of  the  Church! 

Joseph  was,  it  appears,  a  Cardinal. 

"My  litter!"  he  called  in  his  astonishingly 
strengthened  voice.  "Send  couriers  along  the 
route  to  Rueil!  to  relay  the  bearers.  I  must 
arrive  there  as  though  I  rode  on  the  morning's 
wings!" 

The  monks  were  amazed  that  the  more  ro- 
bust of  the  two  Cardinals  should  have  suc- 
cumbed; they  obeyed  their  part  of  the  instruc- 
tions. Meanwhile,  Richelieu  walked  out  to  his 
litter  and  entered  with  Themines,  whose  arm 
assisted  him.  He  dismissed  the  other  physi- 
cians, with  thanks  for  their  promptness. 

Inside  the  curtains,  he  whispered  to  the  Bre- 
ton: 

"Make  your  report  on  the  lines  which  in- 
criminate no  one.  Do  not  let  us  besmirch  the 
Church's  garments  by  crushing  a  reptile  on 
them." 

At  a  mansion,  the  litter  was  halted.  On 
hearing  that  it  was  the  residence  of  the  Chief 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Tribunal,  Themines  be- 
lieved that  the  Minister  had  reconsidered  his 
clemency.  The  order  was  sent  in  for  Laubarde- 
mont  to  come  out.  He  was  an  epicure;  he  was 
called  from  a  banquet,  for  he  was  wiping  his 
mouth  on  a  silver-fringed  napkin  as  he  ap- 
peared in  gala  costume  on  the  front  steps. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  521 

Feasting  while  his  master  was  thought  on 
the  brink  of  death! 

Richelieu  did  not  comment  on  this  appear- 
ance of  unconcern  to  a  patron. 

"Go, prepare  your  report," said  the  statesman 
to  the  doctor.    "Give  your  place  to  the  judge." 

Laubardemont,  quaking,  stepped  within  the 
litter. 

This  looked  much  like  an  arrest  of  the  digni- 
tary and  his  removal  to  a  prison.  But  only 
one  of  his  guests,  up  at  the  windows  and  at 
the  doorway,  dared  to  advance  as  if  to  inquire, 
scarcely  to  protest. 

It  was  a  gaily  dressed  man  whom  the  Cardi- 
nal recognised. 

"Abbe  de  Gondi,"  said  he;  "mount  a  horse, 
for  I  know  you  can  ride  well.  Accompanv  us 
to  Rueil." 

The  judge  shuddered  so  as  almost  to  shake 
the  litter;  but  the  Coadjutor  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Paris  was  of  sterner  metal.  He  mounted  a 
horse  from  the  saddle  of  which  an  arquebusier 
descended. 

"My  dress,"  he  protested. 

"Will,  I  hope,  suit  the  occasion!  Ange  or 
Carre  will  conduct  the  graver  ceremony — you, 
I  require  for  a  wedding!" 

"The  graver  occasion!"  muttered  Laubarde- 
mont, more  dead  than  alive.  "At  Rueil,  there 
is  to  be  an  execution,  then!  Oh,  that  1  had 
finished  that  ortolan  pasty  and  washed  it  down 
with  that  incomparable  Chambertin!" 

Litter,  guards  and  cavalcade,  all  resumed  the 
march. 

In  the  litter  was  lamp,  writing  materials,  and 
legal  forms. 

"Make  out  this  blank  for  the  arrest  and  exe- 


522  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

cution  of  a  traitor,"  said  Richelieu  to  the 
judge,  who  became  his  secretary. 

While  he  wrote,  relieved  at  it  not  being 
aimed  at  him,  the  captain  of  the  escort  was 
called  to  the  doorway. 

"Cavoye,"  said  the  Premier,  "take  the  judge 
on  a  good  horse  between  yourself  and  a  trooper. 
Make  the  arrest  he  has  the  warrant  for.  Stay 
that  double  execution!  I  shall  be  with  you 
soon.  Let  me  not  tread  on  your  heels  before 
you  carry  out  the  mandate!" 

Laubardemont  had  completed  the  writing; 
sighing,  he  was  lifted  upon  a  strong  horse, 
partly  supported  by  the  soldier  on  his  left,  and 
away  flew  the  three,  the  central  figure  more 
like  a  prisoner  than  like  a  judge. 

The  monster  palanquin  followed  in  the  wake 
of  dust  they  threw  up. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  523 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

A  DUEL  OF  LAWYERS. 

It  was  several  hours  after  sunset  before  Lau- 
bardemont  rode  into  Rueil.  He  was  consoled 
for  the  loss  of  his  feast,  and  the  badness  of  the 
roads  over  which  he  had  shown  he  was  no 
horseman,  bj  his  prospect  of  destroying  Laft'e- 
mas  whose  position  he  coveted. 

The  tramp  of  his  escort  and  the  uniforms  had 
started  an  impression  that  it  was  the  Cardinal 
and  little  would  have  caused  the  garrison  to 
tender  him  a  salute. 

Showing  his  powers  to  the  governor,  who 
knew  Captain  Cavoye  better  than  the  great  law 
lord,  Laubardemont  listened  to  the  account  of 
the  way  the  two  prisoners  were  bearing  their 
captivity,  and  reservedly  let  it  rest,  only  saying 
that  nothing  was  to  be  done  before  the  superior 
arbiter  arrived. 

Then  he  set  upon  the  highly  personal  course 
he  had  cogitated  upon  during  his  ride. 

It  was  to  recompense  him  for  his  lost  ca- 
rouse. 

"I  shall  not  be  able  to  sit  at  ease,  even  upon 
the  woolsack,  for  a  fortnight,"  groaned  he;  "so 
some  one  must  line  the  cushion.  My  colleague, 
of  course,  poor  dear  Xorbert,  whose  vulgar 
Mean'  is  used  very  freely  in  his  indictment! 
Tut,  tut!  to  think  of  his  falling  from  grace! 
Condemned  by  the  sire  who — hush!  these  are 
topsy-turvy  times!" 

lb-  was  rather  embarrassed  bv  Cavove,  ac 


524     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

cording  to  private  instructions,  keeping  him 
at  hand  as  though  he  were  a  prisoner,  and  by 
Gondi  who  watched  him  cynically;  but  present- 
ly he  was  left  to  his  own  devices  as  both  joined 
the  governor  at  supper. 

He  declared  an  interrupted  meal  always  up- 
set him  for  a  week,  and  cautiously  inquired  for 
the  Lieutenant-Civil.  The  latter  was  not  trum- 
peting his  whereabouts,  but  a  valet,  with  a 
menial's  scent  for  disaster  and  instinct  to  cling 
to  the  rising  meteor,  imparted  the  secret  that 
the  great  functionary  was  in  the  chapel,  wait- 
ing for  a  priest,  probably  to  officiate  over  the 
execution  of  the  two  culprits. 

"But,  my  lord,"  went  on  this  communicative 
domestic,  seeing  he  pleased,  "he  also  expects 
another  visitor.  A  lady,  who  is  stopping  at 
the  Cross-Keys." 

"A  lady!"  and  Laubardemont  pricked  up  his 
ears. 

"A  beautiful  lady!  from  town,  one  can  see 
that!  I  have  a  shrewd  suspicion  that  he  in- 
tends to  economise  on  the  priest,  making  the 
father  perform  his  marriage  ceremony  under 
the  head  of  the  mass  and  shrift!  After  all,  it 
is  only  another  kind  of  halter!" 

"Ha,  ha!"  laughed  the  judge.  "Eh!  what 
under-work  is  Messire  Laffemas  planning?  mar- 
riage! who  would  commit  that  false  step  with 
this  ungainly,  treacherous  fellow,  and  one  who 
is  about  to  lose  his  rank,  his  fortune,  and,  I  be- 
gin to  believe,  his  head?  Would  Richelieu  slay 
his  own  son?  marry,  he  would!  a  brood  of 
them  if  they  hampered  his  advance!" 

Calling  for  a  description  of  the  supposed 
bride,  he  recognised  the  famous  Marion. 

He  also  knew  that  Laffemas  had  dangled 
about  her,  in  Paris,  and  that,  since,  he  had 


OR.  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  525 

oscillated  between  Chambord  ;mi<1  I >lois,  where 
it   was  rumored  she  had  been  seen. 

"Can  you  show  me,  quietly,  into  t liis  chapel?" 
he  asked  of  the  useful  lackey. 

"Certainly." 

"Then  do  so,  and  announce  me  as  the  priest 
— no!  do  not  announce  me,  at  all!  I  will  pre- 
sent  myself!  Under  the  Law,  we  are  brothers! 
d'ye  sec:" 

"My  lord,  it  is  arranged  that  his  own  hand 
will  open  a  little  secret  door  to  the  new  shrine 
of  St.  John  on  a  peculiar  mode  of  knocking." 

"My  scheme  is  going  on  swimmingly — it  will 
be  Laffemas  who  drowns!"  thought  Laubarde- 
mont,  rewarding  the  guide  beforehand  hand- 
somely with  gold. 

The  castle  clock  was  vibrating  on  the  first 
stroke  of  eleven  when  the  servant  knocked  at 
the  chapel  postern  in  the  understood  manner 
and  silently  crossed  the  yard  to  go  and  add  his 
louis  to  his  hoard. 

In  the  meantime,  as  once  before,  but  at  Nan- 
gis,  Laffemas  had  been  waiting  with  nerves  on 
the  strain  for  Marion's  coming,  with  a  favorable 
answer  to  his  suit.  He  could  not  doubt  it,  this 
time.  He  stood,  so  to  say,  in  the  shadow  of 
the  gallows,  betwreen  her  and  the  rival  whose 
life  could  not  be  purchased  but  at  the  cost  of 
her  liberty.  Did  he  intend  to  keep  faith  with 
her?  Hardly,  for  he  was  not  the  man  to  be- 
lieve in  the  oath  of  one  whose  removal  much 
farther  than  India  would  alone  ensure  his  se- 
curity. 

On  hearing,  for  all  their  caution,  the  two 
men's  steps  in  the  cobble-stone  paved  yard,  he 
distinguished  that  it  was  not  a  woman  ami 
supposed  it  the  priest  and  his  clerk. 

Disappointed,  taking  a  lamp  impiously  from 


526  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBEjj 

a  shrine  where  the  beheaded  saint  held  out  his 
head  on  a  salver,  he  rapidly  crossed  the  chapel 
floor  and  opened  the  small  door,  as  promised 
by  the  valet. 

On  the  threshold,  advancing  to  prevent  be- 
ing shut  out,  a  form  in  black  clothes,  for  Lau- 
bardemont  had  donned  a  cloak  for  his  adven- 
ture, might  be  for  a  time  mistaken  for  the  ex- 
pected churchman.  But  continuing  his  forward 
movement,  the  judge  drove  the  light-bearer  be- 
fore him  and  flung  down  the  mantle. 

"Laub — "  began  Laffemas,  and  the  lamp 
would  have  fallen  in  his  fright  but  for  the  other 
catching  it. 

By  its  flare,  as  he  held  it  now,  the  blandest 
of  smiles  was  to  be  seen  on  his  broad  mouth 
and  long  face,  while  his  costume,  reminiscent 
rather  of  the  revelry  than  the  bench,  almost 
encouraged  his  enforced  host. 

"My  dear  brother,"  said  the  other,  "I  am 
charmed  to  see  you  looking  so  blithe!" 

He  looked  round:  the  fittings  were  more  in 
harmony  with  the  execution  than  the  marriage. 

"Granted,  however,  that  the  decorations 
scarcely  accord  with  a  feast  of  the  Church." 

"Come  back  into  this  recess,"  grumbled  Laf- 
femas, beginning  to  lose  some  regained  assur- 
ance at  the  singularity  of  this  call.  Perhaps 
the  crocodile-like  amiability  of  his  brother 
judge  helped  to  restore  his  apprehension. 

The  bay  in  course  of  building,  not  37et  pro- 
vided with  image  and  altar,  afforded  a  nook, 
with  oaken  stalls  at  the  sides,  and  the  plas- 
terers' table,  on  the  latter  of  which  Laubarde- 
mont  placed  the  lamp. 

The  rest  of  the  large  hall  was  plunged  into 
darkness. 


OK,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED. 


- 


As  the  new-comer  obstinately  preserved  sil- 
ence,  Laffemas  broke  it  by  inquiring: 

"From  Iho  city?  what  news?  what  of  his 
Eminence?  is  our  patron  not  coming  to  see  the 
execution?  There  is  no  delay,  no  respite,  no 
reprieve?" 

"I  should  hope  not,"  responded  the  other,  sit- 
ting in  a  stall,  with  a  grin.  "We  are  not  of  the 
kind  that  see  a  prey  escape  without  a  pang. 
'Old  Malice"  becomes  more  inflexible  as  his  ill- 
ness ameliorates.  He  is  less  gouty!  and  the 
Queen,  who  was  to  give  a  regale  to  coincide 
with  his  parting  throes — what  excellent  Span 
ish  malignity!  has  put  it  off.  She  is  biting 
her  thick  lower  lip  with  disappointment.  Our 
patron  has  entered  on  a  new  lease  since  the 
King  went  to  hunt  at  Chambord,  where  Lange- 
ly  devises  newT  sports,  and  so  leaves  the  coast 
clear  for  our  own  craft!  Well,  no  one  can  be 
happier  at  news  of  our  lord's  recovery  than  you 
who  hear  me,  with  such  avidity,''  concluded 
Laubardeniont,  with  a  suggestive  leer.  "You 
always  professed  an  esteem  quite  filial  for  his 
Eminence." 

As  the  hearer  had  no  grounds  for  suspect- 
ing his  collocutor  of  more  than  his  usual  sar- 
casm and  was  ignorant  of  the  true  state  of 
a  Hairs,  he  let  the  quip  pass. 

"How  is  the  other?"  demanded  he,  sud- 
denly. 

"The  Grey  Eminence?  oh.  Father  Joseph 
was,  as  I  left,  on  the  point  of  going  on  a  jour- 
ney." 

Laffemas  seemed  pleased;  but  he  said  with 
surprise: 

"lb-,  the  Stay-at-home,  who  wears  the  boots 
off  Carre's  feet  with  his  message  s?  But  1  sup- 


528  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

pose  you  mean  he  is  going  to  bis  diocese,  for 
he  is  bishop  of  some  fat  see?"' 

"Better  than  that — it  is  published  that  he  is 
a  Cardinal!" 

"Ah!  then  he  may  be  going  to  his  installa- 
tion— to  fill  his  red  hat  with  offerings  of  his 
faithful  flock!" 

"I  do  not  know  where.  I  know  little  out  of  my 
jurisdiction,"  replied  Laubardemont,  affecting 
not  to  be  inquisitive. 

"Which  comprises  all  France!  hum!  Might 
he  not  be  going  to — to — Rome?" 

"Why  not?"  said  the  judge,  smiling  approv- 
ingly. "His  couriers  do  not  seem  to  accomplish 
much  by  their  eternal  cantering.  Perhaps  a 
principal  must  accomplish  the  end  in  view." 

The  Lieutenant  of  Internal  Police  was  re- 
flecting. On  the  intimation  of  Cheret,  he  had 
written  to  a  confidential  hand  near  the  chief 
conspirators  at  St.  Peter's,  notifying  him  whom 
Joseph  du  Tremblay  would  appoint  against  the 
"native"  Cardinals'  choice.  He  had  expected 
the  answer  would  be  an  arrow  shot  from  afar, 
but,  perhaps,  to  make  sure,  the  victim  would 
be  decoyed  within  reach  of  a  bravo. 

"His  grey  mantle  will  be  dyed  red,  a  la  Car- 
dinal, indeed!"  he  mused.  "I  cannot  doubt  that 
he  is  in  safe  hands,  for  I  know  to  whom  I 
denounced  him." 

His  companion  was  crumbling  a  bit  of  plas- 
ter between  his  fingers,  with  simple  curiosity. 

"Has  this  resort  made  you  pious — are  you 
mumbling  prayers  for  his  safe  journey?"  said 
he,  with  his  sneering  tone. 

"A  lig  for  Father  Joseph!" 

"With  all  my  heart!  never  was  I  a  piaster 
the  richer  for  him!  But,  one  question,  broth- 
er!  with  Pater  Joseph  gone,  no  matter  whith- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  529 

er;  the  King  eclipsed  in  some  chase;  his  broth- 
er wandering  in  search  of  an  ally  to  assist  his 
usurping  the  throne;  and — "  in  a  lower  voice, 
bending  over  to  him  until  their  eyebrows  al- 
most brushed,  "our  patron  dying,  how  shall  we 
fare?" 

The  Chief  of  Royal  Police  laughed  in  his 
lace. 

"I  am  going,  too,  before  Prance  is  left  with- 
out a  helm  or  a  hand  at  it.  Immediately  on 
the  execution  of  these  two  men,  who  eluded  me 
at  Blois,  so  that  my  professional  pride  is  at 
stake — vou,  a  hanging  judge  will  understand — 
I  shall—" 

"Would  I  could  leave  as  readilv,  but  my  fam- 
ily—" 

Laffemas  continued  to  laugh,  insulting. 

"Truth,  I  am  married!  Well,  it  is  for  your- 
self, then,  that  the  passport  to  the  sea  and  au- 
thorisation for  the  ocean  voyage  on  a  royal  ship 
were  procured?" 

"If  you  know  that?"  began  Laffemas,  showT- 
ing  a  heated  cheek. 

"A  clerk  in  the  Twto  Indies  Company,  who  is 
a  member  of  the  family  I  have  married  into, 
and  thought  he  ought  to  evince  confidence,  in- 
formed me  of  a  powerful  letter  of  favor  which 
you  carried.  It  covers  the  transportation  of  a 
man  and  a — another  man — but  why  not  a  wo- 
man? over  the  Indian  Ocean.  Do  not  mock  at 
my  simplicity,  my  dear  friend,  at  my  jumping 
rashly  to  conclusions — wretched  quality  in  a 
judge!  but  I  did  you  the  compliment  to  sup- 
pose that  vou  intended  a  great  and  generous 
act!" 

"I  do  a  great  and  generous  act!"  Certainly, 
this  exclamation  was  genuine. 

"I  thought,  for  once — I  imagined — listen  to 


530  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

me!  that  you,  who  had  been  down  to  Nangis 
and  conferred  with  the  old  marquis,  who  is  rich 
and  influential,  meant  to  contrive  the  escape 
of  the  Marquis  of  Saverny — " 

"Faugh!" 

"Still,  as  you  have  a  soul  above  lucre!  you 
might  be  farther  impressed  by  the  wiles  and 
entreaties  of  Mdlle.  Delorme — " 

"Ha!" 

"She  busies  herself  for  his  release!" 

"May  Tollard  (the  executioner)  twist  your 
neck,  beloved  colleague,  for  having  that  idea! 
I  favor  that  vapid  fop!  I  assist  Marion  to  es- 
cape to  the  seas  with  him — or  any  other!  I 
wink  at  the  escape  of  one,  or  two,  condemned 
to  death!  Since  you  know  so  much  but  con- 
jecture so  wide  of  the  mark,  know  that  it  is  I 
who  intend  to  go  to  Calcutta,  and  the  com- 
panion will  be  my  bride — " 

"Another  married  and  happy  man!  excellent! 
out  there,  who  would  hash  up  the  ridiculous 
tales  which  spring  up  like  weeds  upon  a  fair 
woman's  path  of  roses!  How  wise  you  are, 
and  how  blissful  you  will  be!  But,"  added 
Laubardemont,  very  seriously,  laying  both 
hands  on  the  other's  shoulders  so  that  he  could 
not  move  away,  "while  you  are  at  a  distance, 
who  will  receive  your  revenues?" 

"I  have  converted  all  that  was  realisable  in- 
to gold — " 

"Oh,  that  accounts  for  the  draft  of  Davidet 
Brothers  on  their  Bombay  house,  on  the 
amount  of  which  Finance  Minister  Bullion  re- 
marked!" 

"What  tattlers  these  heads  of  departments 
are!"  and  Laffemas  ground  the  plaster  balls 
under  his  foot. 

"You  are  frank  with  me,  as  we  always  are! 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  531 

I  admire  yon.  man  of  prudence!  Ah,  if  I  were 
not  tied  here!  Bui  you  could  not  cash  all  your 
real  estate?" 

"My  friend,  it  is  that  immovable  balance 
which  distresses  me,  and  gives  me  that  ab- 
sence of  mind  making  me  such  poor  company!" 

"Not  at  all — you  speak  gold!" 

"Do  you  not  think  that  on  the  ship  I  shall 
be  tossed  more  mentally  than  physically — who 
will  be  safe  in  France  if  the  possibilities  you 
name  are  realised?  What  official  may  not  have 
his  papers  seized  and  all,  including  his  friend's 
investment,  put  under  the  great  Red  Seal?" 

"Any  of  them,  except  those  who,  by  a  far- 
seeing  marriage,  have  powerful  allies  in  the 
enemy's  camp!  I  have  married  Mdlle.  de  Lo- 
zere,  whose  aunt  is  a  lady  paramount  of  Cala- 
horra,  that  is  to  say,  she  is  allied  to  the  Queen 
and  Spain  by  the  latter  connection,  and  to 
Prince  Gaston  by  her  other  claim.  Come  what 
may,  I  am  safe!"  and  he  leaned  back  compla- 
cently in  the  hard  stall  as  though  it  were  cush- 
ioned for  a  prior. 

"My  good  angel  sent  you!" 

Laffemas  grasped  the  other's  hand  across 
the  board,  looked  him  in  the  eye,  unusual 
course  for  him,  and  continued  with  the  same 
rare  frankness. 

"You  are  the  man  I  prayed  for!  I  accept 
your  offer!    I  appoint  you  my  steward." 

"Ah!"  sighed  the  judge,  in  relief  and  with 
gladness  of  lust. 

"Time  pr<  sses,  and  I  have  an  appoint- 
ment— " 

"I  guess!  will  vou  have  me,  to  give  away  the 
bride?" 

"Perhaps,  but  she  and  I  must  have  a  private 


532  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

conference  first.  Can  we  not  abridge  the  for- 
malities?" 

"Between  lawyers?  certainly.  I  carry  writ- 
ing materials — " 

"And  I!" 

They  cleared  the  rough  boards  and  laid  on 
them  paper  and  ink;   each  had  a  supply. 

Laffemas  laid  a  long  list  by  his  side. 

"My  catalogue  of  immovable  property  in 
France!" 

Laubardemont's  look  of  curiosity  changed  to 
one  of  avarice. 

"Formidable!"  cried  he,  and  began  to  read: 
"Item:  a  parcel  of  four  farms  in  Cher,  with 
vineyards — " 

"I  held  it  in  trust  for  the  Prince  of  Marillac's 
four  sons;  they  fell  into  disfavor  at  his  execu- 
tion, and  as  they  are  dead,  legally  speaking,  I 
regard  it  all  as  mine  own!" 

"Naturally!" 

"Poor  Marillae!  I  presided  at  his  execution, 
on  the  Strand,  at  Paris.  They  are  promising 
boys,  and  will  get  along  without  clogging  land 
under  their  feet.  It  makes  galliard  spirits  to 
start  them  in  want!" 

"They  will  bless  you!  'The  Nitre  Caves/  at 
Savonier — " 

"Always  wanted  at  a  stiff  price,  for  gun- 
powder," explained  Laffemas,  who  seemed  not 
to  be  eager  for  his  colleague  to  get  away.  "Ah, 
Bassompierre  was  foresighted  when  he  pur- 
chased those  bat-haunts.  Foor  dear  Marshal! 
I  conducted  him  to  the  Bastile,  and  consigned 
him  to  Governor  du  Treniblaj^s  cares.  Ah! 
another  tender  reminiscence!  Those  thirty 
acres  of  roses  at  Provins,  on  the  Montmorency 
Estate;   I  arranged  all  the  ceremony  from  an- 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  533 

cient  precedents  for  the  fil  decollation  of  the 
second  Henry,  Duke  of  that  name." 

"A  quarry,  from  Souvre;  farms,  Lansee;  the 
Forest  of  Champmaillard,  with  right  to  cut 
timber  of  twenty  years'  growth  in  perpetuity! 
Delicious!" 

"I  arrested  every  one  of  those  donors  and 
by  my  kindness  secured  their  regard — and  this 
property,  which  otherwise  would  be  clutched 
by  the  insatiable  Richelieu." 

"True,  some  men  are  sordid!  Happy  inter- 
mediary, and  disinterested!"  sighed  Laubarde- 
mont,  rubbing  his  eyes  while  the  other  rubbed 
his  hands. 

"Good  gentlemen!"  replied  the  susceptible 
Police  Official.  "None  of  those  I  took  into  cus- 
tody or  marched  to  scaffold  or  prison,  bore  me 
any  grudge.  I  except  M.  Jars,  who  obtained  a 
pardon  at  the  gibbet's  foot  and,  by  the  mass! 
cut  me  dead  the  next  time  we  met,  at  a  for- 
tune-teller's in  Paris!  but  I  prompted  her  to 
assure  him  that  he  would  be  taken  off  abomi- 
nably and  he  has  never  slept  a  wink  since!" 

"Hum!  this  glass  factory  at  Manche  is  valu- 
able!  your  own  purchase?" 

"For  a  peppercorn,  of  Bouteville.  I  weep  to 
recall  him!  He  lost  his  head,  for  a  duel!  Then, 
the  penalty  was  decapitation — now,  we  leave 
the  head  on  to  prevent  the  halter  slipping  off!" 

"The  world  is  getting  civilised,"  remarked 
the  other  seriously. 

"I  read  all  their  sentences,  with  clear  articu- 
lation and  proper  emphasis,  so  they  know  quite 
clearly  why  they  died.  I  do  not  hold  with  those 
conscienceless  clerks  who  gabble  a  death  order 
BO  that  a  culprit  is  launched  into  eternity  in 
doubt  why  he  was  despatched  thither!" 


534  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"I  applaud!  Oh,  more  vineyards — and  in 
Champagne!" 

"I  owe  them  to  Montmorency,  too,  who  sug- 
gested to  the  Cardinal,  before  they  fell  out, 
that  the  Stewardship  there  would  fit  me.  I 
never  forgave  Langely,  who  jested  that  he  pre- 
ferred the  wine  of  my  province  to  my  ivhine!" 

"Scurrilous  knave!  We  have  no  time  to  jest. 
Make  me  holder  over  all  this  property,  and  I 
will  transmit  the  income,  apart  from  my 
dues — •" 

"Thirty  per  cent.,  my  friend !" 

"How  liberal!  I  should  be  content  with 
twenty-five!" 

Expert  in  drafting  legal  documents,  the 
transfer  was  speedily  made.  Laubardemont 
seemed  overcome  by  the  honor! 

"One  good  turn  deserves  another,"  said  he, 
sprinkling  the  ink  with  crumbled  plaster  in  de- 
fault of  sand.  "Are  you  sure  you  can  pass  out 
of  bounds,  with  your — companion?" 

"The  chief  under  his  Eminence  is  master  of 
Kueil." 

"In  ordinary  times,"  returned  the  judge,  fold- 
ing up  the  paper  which,  he  considered,  made 
him  sole  owner  of  what  it  enumerated. 

"What  extraordinary  times  are  these?"  in 
alarm. 

"I  do  not  know.  Eueil  is  not  in  my  jurisdic — 
that  is,  the  sentinels  are  doubled,  and  Cavoye 
has  come  down  from  town  with  a  reinforce- 
ment. It  was  not  merely  because  I  am  a  royal 
commissioner." 

"I  never  rated  Cavoye  friend  of  mine."  Laf- 
femas  looked  perplexed  and  doubting. 

"But  he  is  of  mine.  He  belongs  distantly  to 
the  family  I  married  into!   Anyway — "  seeing 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  53S 

Laffemas  force  a  smile,  he  added:  ''Say  the 
word  and  I  will  lend  you  the  ring." 

"Your  signet-ring!  what  good  js  that,  out  of 
your  jurisdiction?  eh,  it  is  Richelieu's!— the 
rail  ling-stone!" 

"Ergo,  it  will  pass  any  one  through!" 

"I  believe  it  would  pass  a  lost  soul  back 
through  Hades.  Have  you  robbed  your  dying 
master?" 

"I,  rob  the  eagle!  I,  the  harmless,  jovial, 
table-loving  Laubardemont,  whom  the  King 
talked  of  substituting  for  Langely,  whose  jokes 
grow  more  trite  and  tedious?" 

"Heigho!  you  may  joke,  since  I  must  leave 
so  much  to  you,  and  go  among  pagans!" 

"Pooh!  Marion  will  console  you!  many  an 
envied  duke  in  Paris  would  gladly  change  his 
future  for  yours."  *He  slapped  him  on  the 
shoulder,  chuckling. 

"By  the  bye,  steward  of  mine,"  said  Laffe- 
mas, apparently  at  ease,  and  slipping  the  token 
of  power  upon  his  finger,  while  ceasing  any 
longer  to  listen  to  sounds  without;  "what  com- 
mission brings  you  to  secluded  Rueil?  out  of 
your  circuit?" 

Still  laughingly,  Laubardemont  responded: 
"To  make  an  arrest,  of  course." 

"Who  is  here?  have  they  decoyed  Bellegarde 
from  Chambord?" 

"Oh,  no!  neither  duke  nor  prince!  none  such 
have  the  cunning  to  choose  the  Cardinal's  own 
haunt  for  secrecy!" 

"Oh,  a  pretended  Cardinalist?" 

"In  plain  words,  a  traitor." 

"Do  you  anticipate  difficulty,  that  you  brin# 
Cavoye  along?" 

"I  told  you  it  was  rather  he  who  brought  me, 
along!    No,  not  with  Rueil  at  my  back." 


536  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

''Nevertheless,  if  it  be  a  personage  of  conse- 
quence— " 

"He  is,  and  he  is  a  rich  one,  to  boot!" 

"Then  let  me  tell  you  that  the  town  swarms 
with  strangers — " 

"But  all  Cardinalistic?" 

"These  old  feudal  barons  have  tenants  and 
retainers  who  follow  their  lords  against  King 
or  governors.  Ostensibly  these  bludgeon-bear- 
ers come  to  see  the  execution — one  to  be  car- 
ried out  within  the  walls!  To  my  mind,  Sa- 
verny's  yeomen  contemplate  a  rescue!  and  they 
would,  being  full  of  tide?  and  mead,  join  in  any 
attempt,  provided  they  have  the  fighting  they 
pant  for!" 

"Though  all  Brittany  came  to  the  beck  of 
Nangis,  and  he  made  head  against  me,  I  should 
make  my  arrest,"  said  Laubardemont  with  a 
mixture  of  the  heroic  and  martyr's  airs. 

"But  you  will  be  smothered  by  the  mob;  torn 
to  rags  when  Saverny  raises  his  war  cry!" 

"Oh,  if  that  is  all,  friend,  he  will  raise  no  cry 
in  peace  or  war!" 

"All  these  nobles  have  a  call:  'To  the  rescue 
of  Such-a-one!'  Would  you  gag  him?  it  looks 
bad — my  experience  teaches,  to  lead  a  prisoner 
about  with  a  kerchief  over  his  mouth!  When  I 
took  Montague,  the  English  agent,  though  a 
palpable  foreigner,  the  rabble  resented  his  be- 
ing hoodwinked." 

"It  is  clear  you  have  been  absent  from  town 
lately!  gagging  is  vulgar  and  obselete."  The 
commissioner  drew  a  singular  object  from  the 
folds  of  his  rich  doublet.  "You  see  here  the 
latest  and  genteelist  novelty  for  hushing  ob- 
streperous prisoners." 

Laffemas  stared  at  the  wooden  pear  which 
Mazarini  had  presented  to  Richelieu  for  the 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  537 

King,  and  which  the  ( Cardinal  must  have  passed 
to  his  chief  judge  for  an  experiment,  as  In* 
promised  to  do. 

"My  friend,  you  sec  the  Pear  of  Silence,  made 
by  an  ingenious  Brescian;    placed  in  the  cap 
five's  mouth,  it  prevents  any  noise,  any  inciting 
spectators  to  riot  and  rescue!" 

"Placed  in  the  mouth!"  returned  the  other, 
with  exquisite  simplicity  in  a  torturer  pretty 
well  familiar  with  the  arsenal  of  torment  of 
the  period,  "why,  that  is  too  large — at  least  for 
France!  the  Brescians  must  have  mouths  like 
that  of  Le  Havre!  that  would  never  go  into  a 
native  mouth!"' 

"But  thus,  when  collapsed,  see!  by  the  key — 
this  pretended  stem  is  the  key — " 

"That  is  different.  How  marvellous!  It  is 
lessened  in  bulk;  but,  never  will  you  prevail 
on  me  to  believe  that  it  would  enter  a  mouth 
like — yours,  for  example!" 

"It  would  slip  into  a  princess's — Doubting 
Thomas,  see!" 

At  the  moment  when  Laubardemont,  carried 
too  far  by  his  enthusiasm  as  a  demonstrator, 
lifted  the  pear  near  his  parting  lips,  the  audi- 
tor raised  his  arms  in  admiration,  and  with  a 
blundering  jog  of  the  elbow  drove  the  instru- 
ment into  the  somewhat  capacious  orifice. 

While  the  victim  spluttered  and  tried  to 
expel  the  obstacle,  the  Lieutenant-Criminal 
gave  an  expanding  turn  to  the  key,  though  af- 
fecting to  be  trying  to  disengage  it  by  this  stem. 
In  mock  horror  he  drew  out  the  key,  saying,  al- 
most with  tears — they  might  be  of  satirical 
laughter — in  his  eyes: 

"I  crave  pardon!  It  will  go  in!  by  the  Heart, 
it  has  gone  in!" 

The  dupe  made  an  extraordinary  but  unin- 


538  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

telligible  noise,  while  clawing  at  the  gag  with 
both  hands. 

"What  do  you  say?  yes,  it  does  render  words 

xJ  V  Xi 

unmeaning!  Oh,  the  key?  you  make  the  sign 
for  the  key?  Allow  me!  Thunder!  I  have, 
again,  turned  it  the  wrong  way!" 

Nothing  was  more  perfect  than  the  distress- 
ful air  upon  Laffemas'  countenance;  brief  as 
was  his  association  with  Mondori's  troupe,  he 
had  profited  histrionically;  but,  somehow, 
Laubardemont  did  not  believe  in  his  sincerity. 
Still  less  was  his  belief  when  Laffemas  profited 
by  his  discomfiture  to  smooth  his  arms  down 
by  his  sides,  and  bind  them  thus  with  his  scarf 
of  office.  With  unsuspected  strength  the  slight- 
er man  threw  him  down  on  the  stones,  secured 
his  ankles  with  an  end  of  rope,  and  tightened 
the  bonds  on  his  arms.  In  spite  of  an  evident 
disposition  to  save  time,  he  methodically 
searched  his  prize. 

The  judge  moaned  as  the  document  empow- 
ering him  to  manage  Laffemas'  real  estate  was 
taken  from  him,  and  other  papers  came  to  light. 

"Warrant,  'Executed  in  my  litter  on  the  lii«li- 

x/  <—> 

way  between  Chantillv  and — '    What  have  we 

xJ  x 

here,  scoundrel?  Richelieu  supersedes  me  as 
Lieutenant-Civil  and  appointed  the  bearer  in  my 
stead?  What  farther  is  this?  Warrant:  'Ar- 
rest and  try  Jean,  alias  Norbert  Laffemas,  pre- 
tended son  of  the  royal  valet  Laffemas,  for 
m-m-murder!'    I,  commit  murder?" 

Laubardemont  shuddered — for  if  ever  mur- 
der was  in  a  man's  eye,  it  was  plain  in  those 
contemplating  him  with  surprise  and  partly 
glutted  malice. 

"Never  till  now  did  I  feel  that  way  incli — 
eh?  'The  Murder  of  one  Dame  Laffemas,  alias, 
The  Sorceress  of  Blanchapelle   Lane,   Paris.' 


OR.  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  539 

Ho,  ho!  'Formerly,  spouse  of  the  woodman  Laf 
femas,  of  Richelieu  bourg.'  Zounds,  how  pal 
you  have  it  all!  1  am  lost!  but,  no — I  may 
escape!  thanks  to  the  eaglestone 2  You  villain! 
1  was  right  to  suspect  you  and  be  on  my  guard! 
You  had  these  adders'  tongues  to  sting  me,  and 
von  slavered  me  to  gain  my  store!  It  is  you 
'shall  die!" 

He  took  up  one  of  the  stylets  used  to  erase 
mistakes  on  parchment,  and  felt  the  point  with 
a  coolness  which  certainty  of  revenge  gave  him. 

The  helpless  one  saw  the  blow  descending  as 
he  heard  a  knocking  at  the  little  door  by  which 
he  had  been  admitted.  He  hoped,  for  it  might 
be  Cavoye! 

"Joy!  'tis  Marion!  at  last!"  said  Laffemas, 
merely  for  that  instant  poising  the  weapon, 
and  bringing  it  down  into  the  unresisting  heart. 

Made  calmer  still  by  the  crisis,  he  stood  up, 
laid  the  steel  quietly  on  the  board,  and  wiping 
his  hand  on  the  cloak,  for  a  few7  drops  had 
spirted,  crossed  the  slabs  to  admit  his  expected, 
and  more  desirable  visitor. 

The  mantle  dragged  over  Laubardemont's 
staring  eyes,  half  under  the  plasterers'  table. 

Laffemas  was  doubly  delighted;  he  had  rid 
himself  of  a  dangerous  rival  and  fortified  him- 
self in  his  powerful  position.  He  was  to  re- 
ceive the  ideal  reward  of  his  perfidy  and  pas 
sion.  He  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  behind  him. 
Xevertheless,  although  the  Chief  Judge  was 
assuredly  lifeless,  a  sound  arose  there,  slight 
but  perceptible — perhaps,  merely  a  stone 
creaked  in  the  drying  mortar,  or  a  green  plank 
cracked. 

Laffemas  gleefully  opened  to  Mdlle.  Delorme 
and  extended  his  homicidal  hand  with  eager- 
ness. 


540  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 
"WAS  EVER  WOMAN  IN  THIS  HUMOR  WOOED?" 

Long  since,  the  sun  had  ceased  to  glide  down 
into  the  courtyard  where  the  two  prisoners  ex- 
ercised. From  their  heavily  barred  window, 
they  saw  a  point  glitter  now  and  then  until  all 
the  outlook  became  dark.  It  was  the  tip  of  the 
sentries'  halberds  as  one  or  another  passed 
along  the  wall. 

They  had  vainly  waited  for  the  commissioner 
to  come,  and  announce  the  happy  change  in  the 
mode  of  their  execution.  But  as  Laubarde- 
mont  was  busy  on  his  own  errand  to  Laffeinas, 
it  devolved  on  Captain  Cavoye,  or  rather  he 
took  it  upon  himself  to  afford  the  captives — 
men  of  the  sword  whose  fate  he  deplored — a 
lightening  of  their  burden. 

After  the  news,  Saverny  outdid  his  former 
self  in  liveliness. 

He  ate  the  supper  as  though  it  were  the 
feast  from  which  Laubardemont  had  been  un- 
luckily called. 

"Did  you  hear?1'  said  he:  "the  Cardinal  may 
arrive  at  any  nick  between  this  and  midnight?" 

"It  is  a  supreme  instant,"  replied  Didier;  "it 
is  meet  we  should  ponder  over  the  sole  issue  of 
our  doom." 

"I  am  pondering  over  the  issue,  indeed!" 

"We  are  about  the  same  age,  and  yet,  grant- 
ing you  have  seen  most  of  the  world,  I  reckon 
myself  older  in  wisdom  than  you." 

The  young  noble  bowed,  with  his  eyes  fixed 
on  the  scratched  stone. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  541 

''I  accept  you  as  guide.  Since  von  will  no1 
try  the  means  of  escape  alone,  or  to  break  out 
in  company,  I  resign  myself,  and  my  comfort  is 
in  hearing  you  exhort." 

"I  ought  to  comfort  you  as,  at  every  step 
when  you  might  have  departed,  I  have  barred 
you.  I  challenged  you!  You  were  living  mer- 
rily when  I  crossed  your  path.  By  simple  con- 
tact, my  life  thread  corrupted  yours  as  a  stick 
of  caustic  rots  the  silk.  Under  my  fate  yours 
has  warped  and  snapped.  We  twain  enter  in- 
to the  vale  of  darkness  together." 

"I  would  rather  we  entered  into  the  gallery 
of  light  together!  but  in  any  direction  we  shall 
march,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  like  soldiers!  It 
will  irritate  his  Eminence  to  hear  that  we 
died  fraternally;  for  he  is  shunned  by  the 
world,  saving  his  Father  Joseph,  his  Daemon! 
one  who  leads  him  by  the  nose  as  that  other 
scoundrel.  Judge  Laffemas,  does  by  the  sleeve!" 

"This  Laffemas  is  peculiarly  abhorrent  to 
me,"  remarked  Didier.  "To  think  a  great  man 
should  be  cursed  with  such  a  progeny!"1 

"It  is  the  rule:  my  father  was  a  miser — I  am 
a  spendthrift.  Marion  was  probably  child  of 
an  ordinary  peasant.  The  son  of  a  great  man 
is  usually  a  pigmy!  But  hark!  voices  in  there, 
in  the  chapel!" 

"I  hear!  probably  the  priest  rehearsing  the 
service  over  us,  with  his  clerk!" 

"Go  on,  you,  with  your  sermon!  I  prefer 
it  to  that  voice!" 

They  heard  the  rattle  of  arms;  by  the  tread 
they  judged  that  the  watch  was  doubled. 

"This  and  the  priest  between,  would  have 
made  it  more  hard  to  break  out,"  commented 
the  marquis;  "we  should  have  to  run  the  risk 
of  two  shots  instead  of  one.  to  say  nothing  of 


542  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  immediate  servant  of  St.  John  knocking  us 
over  with  the  holy-water-brush!  Double  guard! 
we  are  rising  in  value  since  esteemed  as  gentle- 
men, once  more,  who  should  be  decapitated." 

Standing  up,  he  drummed  regretfully  on  the 
block,  said  to  be  a  door  to  safety. 

"Friend,"  continued  Didier,  "for  the  sake  of 
your  race,  your  quality,  and  name,  have  a  care 
not  to  flinch — not  to  stumble  on  the  sill  of  the 
chamber  of  which  the  headsman  holds  the  key 
— in  the  shape  of  an  axe.  It  has  so  low  a  door 
that  one  who  would  pass  through  upright  must 
stand  a  head  lower  than  other  men.  Let  us 
go  with  a  steady  step  towards  the  blood-clotted 
block,  that  pillow,  in  this  reign,  of  many  a  good 
spirit.  Let  the  scaffold  quake  under  us,  not  we 
upon  the  boards.  Our  heads  are  called  for! 
carry  them  loftily,  as  Herodias  carried  the 
saintly  one!    Courage!" 

Leaning  against  the  wall,  ceasing  to  drum 
the  tattoo,  Saverny  succumbed  to  his  fatigue. 
Besides,  a  strange  calm  had  come  over  him,  a 
kind  of  contentment  after  the  confirmation  by 
the  Cardinal's  Guardsman  that  they  would  suf- 
fer the  nobler  doom.  Escape,  Didier  had 
haughtily  spurned  the  idea. 

The  latter  paused  on  seeing  that  his  hearer 
had  become  unconscious. 

"What  waste  to  preach  courage  to  him! 
what  is  my  eagerness  to  end  my  misery,  beside 
his  cheerful  resignation?" 

He  walked  up  and  down  a  few  turns  and  took 
his  seat  on  the  stone  bench. 

"Sleep  on,  brother!  my  time  will  soon  come 
to  sleep  as  soundly,  I  trust!  Oh,  that  all  may 
become  dead  within  me!  that  not  a  fibre  of  my 
heart  outlasts,  to  hate  what  it  so  fondly 
loved!" 


OR.  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  543 

He,  too,  seemed  to  have  sunk  into  slumber, 
so  quiet  was  he,  although,  without  thinking  of 
it,  his  eyes  were  fastened,  in  their  diving  into 
vacancy,  on  that  very  stone  which  the  jailer 
had  indicated  to  the  Marquis  of  Saverny  as  the 
only  block  to  their  exit. 

Could  it  be  true  such  a  stronghold  offered 
such  a  flaw?  was  it  not  well-grounded  popular 
rumor  that  Rueil  was  tunnelled  and  channelled 
deviously?  If  secret  assassins  might  creep  in- 
to dungeons,  why  not  captives  steal  forth,  pos- 
sessing knowledge  of  the  egress? 

Escape!  the  word  had  no  magic  for  the 
wretch  whose  prison  had  been  the  world  all  his 
young  life.  Escape,  to  where  Marion  would 
soon  be  the  town  talk  anew,  the  subject  of 
ballad  and  satire! 

Still  staring,  the  wall  became  transparent. 
By  a  freak  of  the  imagination,  or  is  it  power 
making  solidity  itself  melt?  he  perceived  the 
chapel  interior  on  which  he  had  never  really 
cast  a  glance!  Two  figures  were  in  earnest 
conversation,  not  far  from  him.  One  he  recog- 
nised and  the  other  he  guessed ;  he  thrilled  like 
the  bearer  of  a  divining  rod  treading  on  a  seam 
of  gold,  at  the  voice,  ever  memorable,  of  the 
woman ! 

"Marie!" 

He  started  up  and  pressed  to  the  wall,  be- 
come again  tangible.  "What  is  she  doing  where 
the  priests  should  stand,  repeating  prayers  for 
the  dead  by  violence?" 

He  glued  his  ear  to  the  stone;  no  words 
could  he  hear  distinctly,  though  a  vehement 
dialogue  was  held.  His  weight  bore  on  the 
granite — it  moved!  He  laid  fingers  on  it  at 
the  edge — he  clawed  it  out  as  a  wild  beast 
mijrht  at  its  den.    What  if  his  nails  broke  and 


544  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

left  the  flesh  bleeding!  Other  stones  still 
barred  the  way,  but  a  chink  was  there.  He 
could  peer  into  the  chapel. 

At  his  feet,  too  close  to  the  wall  to  be  visible, 
lay  Laubardemont,  dead;  over  this  space  he 
had  a  glimpse  of  Marion.  Flushed  with  feel- 
ing, losing  her  recent  alabaster  pallor,  she  was 
beautiful  as  he  recalled  her  in  his  earliest 
dreams.  She  was  speaking  with  a  man  in 
black  whose  countenance  was  removed  from  his 
for  the  time. 

"The  Judge  Laffemas!  Lieutenant  of  the 
King!''  he  muttered,  aghast.  "She  meets  her 
latest  lover  here,  with  her  discarded  one  in 
earshot!  Oh,  she  has  grown  viler  than  disgust 
at  its  height  could  credit  her!" 

He  noiselessly  p  icked  out  the  stones  until 
all  but  the  farthest  and  largest  of  them  were  at 
his  feet.  Huge  though  they  were,  they  had 
been  adjusted  so  that  a  child  could  displace 
them. 

The  faithless  jailer  was  obeying  instruc- 
tions? really  the  Marquis  of  Nangis'  or  Mar- 
ion's? ah,  well  she  knew  that  he  would  not 
owe  his  life  and  freedom  to  the  monev  of  her 
purse  or  from  her  jewels! 

It  was  Didier's  influence  over  her  which  had 
kept  her  hesitating  so  that  she  was  an  hour 
late  to  her  appointment.  She  detested  her  pow- 
ers of  intrigue  and  cajolery  which  had  to  be 
exercised  upon  this  wolf  who  had  planted  him- 
self in  the  only  way. 

It  was  a  horrible  alternative,  but  never 
could  the  captives  break  out  with  this  enemy 
next  the  wall  pierced  for  their  sortie!  It  was 
her  duty  to  lull  this  sentinel  to  inactivity,  if 
she  had  not  the  courage  to  slay  him. 

Visions  of  heroines  rose  before  her,  but  alas! 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  545 

for  hero-worship,  no  one  erects  statues  to  Jael, 
Judith,  or  Delilah!  But  on  her  tardy  march, 
she  drew  that  Spanish  dagger,  thought  that 
so  tine  a  point  and  trenchant  edge  required  no 
more  force  than  beats  a  servant  with  a  fan, 
and  went  valiantly  to  the  tryst. 

Hearing  voices  within  the  holy  vault,  she 
was  fearful  that  the  prisoners  had  burst 
through  and  were  detained  by  the  Police  Lieu- 
tenant, lint  almost  instantly  the  voices  were 
stilled.  In  the  silence  she  knocked  again,  and 
it  was  only  Laffemas  who  appeared  at  the  pos- 
tern. 

He  had  left  the  lamp  in  the  recess;  the  large 
hall  was  poorly  illumined;  she  noticed  his  pal- 
lor, tremor  and  quivering  voice,  but  she  at- 
tributed it  all  to  his  passion. 

As  he  retreated,  she  followed  him  mechani- 
cally across  the  pavement,  thinking  that  it  was 
bringing  her  nearer  to  Didier! 

(i  Gloria!  you  have  kept  your  word,"  cried  the 
Lieutenant,  almost  forgetting  the  last  scene  in 
his  gladness.  "You  accept  the  terms,  eh?  Well, 
that  man — those  two  shall  be  free!  See,  the 
signet-ring  of  the  Prime  Minister,  before  which, 
throughout  France,  all,  high  or  low,  will  make 
the  way  smooth  and  pleasant.  They  shall  pass 
to  the  sea,  easy  as  the  gull,  driven  inland  by  a 
storm,  ret  inns  to  the  billow!  And  you  shall  re- 
turn to  your  nest,  at  Paris.  Oh,  Marion,  how 
sagely  your  good  genius  has  prompted  you  to 
choose  me  your  partner  in  the  new  round  of 
the  dance!  Look  at  the  field  of  politics,  har- 
rowed and  furrowed,  tumbling  down  over  the 
old  landmarks  and  heaping  upon  the  high 
bounds.  The  throne — rotten  wood!  the  King! 
a  nonentity,  whom  the  taking  of  waterfowl  suf- 
ficiently   entertains;     Richelieu    is    dying    by 


546  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

inches;  Prince  Gaston  is  ready  to  enrich  above 
rapacity's  cold  calculation  those  who  espouse 
his  cause!  You  and  I  can  rule  Paris,  whoever 
the  next  ruler  shall  be!" 

He  spoke  to  overpower  a  voice  protesting  in 
his  bosom,  remorse  that  the  murder  of  Dame 
Rose  had  not  aroused. 

Marion  let  him  babble;  listening  and  staring 
over  his  head,  fancying  that  now  and  then  the 
walls  undulated. 

"Not  a  word!"  said  he,  recovering  coolness 
at  certainty  that  she  had  not  perceived  the 
corpse  in  the  nook;  "you  might  tender  your 
hand  for  a  kiss  to  bind  our  bargain!  to  one 
who  risks  his  head  for  those  two  insignificant 
ones!" 

"Not  here!  not  within  hearing,  almost,  of  my 
espoused  one!" 

"These  are  not  walls  that  have  ears,  in  that 
sense,"  confidently  returned  the  chief  Officer 
of  Justice.  "A  crime  may  be  acted  out  to  the 
victim's  last  groan,  with  impunity!  it  is  con- 
structed for  deeds  of  darkness,  treacherv  and 
heinousness!" 

"Do  you  woo  by  threatening?"  she  rejoined, 
gaining  coolness  since  this  took  the  aspect  of  a 
combat  and,  to  do  Marion  fairness,  she  was 
brave.  "In  a  church,  hung  with  black  for  im- 
pending death,  do  you  talk  in  this  strain?  You 
must  be  one  who  does  not  believe  in  high,  just 
heaven!" 

"Stay  where  you  are!"  He  was  frightened 
lest  she  should  step  in  where  the  corpse  stif- 
fened, or  at  his  approach  the  blood  should  flow. 
"Hem!  I — I  think  the  priest  is  coming!  Now, 
lady,  is  it  to  be  the  marriage  or  the  death-ser- 
vice he  is  to  go  through?" 

"Death  to  all  of  us  rather  than  union  with  a 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  547 

wretch  like  you!  Ob,  you  must  be  dull,  vile, 
and  infamous  to  think  that  a  woman — a  Marion 
Delorme — after  having  loved  the  purest  of  men 
ever  formed  by  heaven,  and  being  purified  out 
of  her  own  knowing  by  that  chastening  flame, 
in  adoration — her  soul  revived  by  his  superb, 
unworldly  spirit — that  such  a  oue  should  fall 
from  the  height  of  her  redemption  so  low  as  to 
be  picked  up  by  a  Laffemas!  Spawn  of  a  priest 
— no,  beggar's  brat  imposed  upon  a  dotard,  if 
I  can  read  such  a  craven's  inner  self  rightly! 
how  you  cower!  Torturer  in  a  judge's  robe! 
grovelling  anima  more  fitted  for  a  poisonous 
worm!  do  you  dare  aspire  to  the  hostess  of 
princes?" 

He  seemed  to  wither  in  such  scorn,  but  re- 
covering, he  hissed: 

"Do  vou  boast  of  vour  shame,  harlot!" 

Circumspectly  he  circled  round  her,  to  pre- 
vent her  entering  that  cave  to  which  his  back 
was  turned. 

Remembering  that  Marion  had  warned  him 
that  she  wrent  armed,  he  had  cunningly  picked 
up  the  stylet  to  which  the  judge's  blood  now 
glued  his  fingers.  Sooner  than  she  should  live 
to  give  Didier  the  last  kiss  on  his  road  to  the 
scaffold,  he  would  lay  her  to  rest  where  he  had 
hoped  to  make  her  his  bride. 

"I  boast  of  nothing  but  having  inspired  that 
glorious  love!" 

"But  he  will  die!  Misguided  one,  this  is  not 
the  way  to  save  him!" 

"Nor  to  save  him  would  I  become  shameful 
again!  he  would  not  purchase  liberty  at  that 
price!  but  you  know  not  such  men.  His  breath 
h;ts  transfigured  me — elevated  my  soul!  You 
no  longer  address  a  Marion  Delorme.  sir!  it  is 
a  repentant!   nothing  of  the  former  stray  re- 


548  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

mains,  saving  her  beauty — heaven  forgive  the 
wearer  of  that  dubious  boon!  It  wins  and  it 
banishes  the  very  man  whose  happiness  it 
seeks!  The  love  of  Didier  has  sublimated  me 
and  I  ascend  out  of  your  reach!" 

He  showed  his  steel ;  she  immediately  bared 
her  own  dagger.  They  looked  at  one  another 
for  a  moment,  but  the  man  quailed;  he  was 
afraid  of  death!  Might  not  this  be  the 
avenger? 

It  seemed  to  him  that  one  was  at  hand! 

"Lower  your  weapon,"  said  she;  "let  me 
pass!" 

Acting  on  a  new  impulse  or  imposed  upon 
by  her  grandeur,  he  put  the  stylet  in  his  girdle, 
and  asked  as  he  followed  her: 

"Whither  do  you  go?  to  sue  to  the  Cardinal, 
perhaps?" 

"Like  master,  like  man!  beg  of  your  lord 
when  you  are  so  cruel?  I  go,  sir,  to  die  beside 
the  man  whom  I  cannot  deliver!" 

The  instant  she  lowered  her  dagger  and  was 
partly  passing  him,  he  dropped  his  mask  of 
submission  and  sprang  upon  her  like  a  panther. 

He  caught  her  hand,  holding  the  weapon,  and 
held  it  firmly. 

"You  have  destroyed  yourself!  I  will  swear 
that  I  caught  you  in  Rueil,  armed  to  assassi- 
nate my  lord!  But,  shall  I  let  you  go!  Only  as 
my  bride,  as  the  saints  hear  me!"  He  wrenched 
the  dagger  from  her.  "Now,  you  are  power- 
less! our  marriage  must  be!  for  here  comes  the 
holy  man!  Life  to  you  all — you  see  how  gen- 
erous I  am!  Saverny,  Didier,  yourself !  and  joy 
to  me!  A  kiss  upon  our  pact!  I  believe  in  a 
Marion  who  will  not  break  her  word,  and  I  will 
set  them  free!  I  will  guide  them  both  to  the 
outlet!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  549 

Marion  was  struggling  against  Ins  grasp;  she 
averted  her  fare  not  t<»  have  his  lips  come  into 
contact  with  her  cheek;  then,  suddenly,  for- 
getting all  in  horror,  she  hoarsely  screamed: 

"Help!  Didier,  help!  he  has  blood  on  his 
hands!" 

In  the  wrestling,  they  had  whirled  round  to- 
wards the  recess. 

Laffemas  was  shaken  bv  her  denunciation; 
his  foot  slipped  on  the  red-black  slime  from 
under  the  table  and  he  staggered  over  the  dead 
body.  Marion  was  still  detained  by  his  grip 
but  shrank  out  of  the  reach  of  the  poniard.  As 
her  gaze  rose  desperately,  she  saw  a  stone  leap 
out  of  its  socket.  Didier's  flaming  face  ap- 
peared in  the  opening  as  the  granite  block  de- 
scended, hurled  by  all  his  force,  upon  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Criminal. 

The  stylet  rang  on  the  pavement  as  he  fell, 
crushed,  with  broken  wrist  and  skull  across 
Laubardemont's  remains,  their  blood  comming- 
ling, as  a  heap  of  rubble,  plaster  and  stones 
showered  upon  both.  Over  this  heap  Didier 
bounded  down  through  the  aperture. 


550  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

"WAS  EVER  WOMAN  IN  THIS    HUMOR    WON?" 

"By  my  hopes  of  heaven!"  sneered  Didier, 
as  he  alighted,  "the  place  is  fitly  chosen  for 
courtship,  and  the  groom,  to  boot!" 

Marion  rubbed  her  cheek  where  she  imag- 
ined she  felt  Laffemas'  kiss,  like  a  red-hot 
brand,  and  retreated,  appalled  by  this  unex- 
pected taunt. 

"Did  you  not  hear?"  she  faltered. 

"I  heard  that  vou  were  here  to  wed  that 
man,  thanks  to  the  same  priest  who  was  to  re- 
cite Ora  Pro  Nobis  over  me !" 

She  fell  incontrollably  at  his  knees  and  tried 
to  clasp  them. 

"Oh,  is  there  ever  to  be  this  coldness — this 
error  about  one  who  loves  you  so  dearly? 
Leave  me  here,  to  die!  it  is  enough  happiness 
to  have  seen  you  again!  Oh,  let  me  kiss  your 
hands,  torn  by  those  massy  stones!  or  were 
they  lacerated  by  the  manacles?" 

"My  hands  are  not  in  pain — it  is  my  heart," 
responded  the  young  man.  "Have  done!  place 
upon  these  honest  hands  neither  tears  nor 
kisses.  Why  do  you  weep?  for>t*  8  loss  of  the 
brilliant  prospect  that  man  promised?" 

"I  am  not  weeping,"  replied  Marion,  spring- 
ing to  her  feet.  "I  forgot  that,  now  you  are 
free,  I  have  no  cause  to  do  anything  but  laugh." 

"Free!  you  may  well  laugh — this  church  is 
but  a  prison  within  a  prison!" 

"Yoa  are  wrong!  this  makes  you  free!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  551 

Tbe  Cardinal's  ping  bad  rolled  into  sight,  not 
far  from  her  dagger. 

"Thanks!    his  dagger?    I  am  not  going  to 
murder  to  gain  useless  liberty." 
"I  mean  that  ring!  the  Cardinal's!" 
"His  signet!    I  would  as  lief  pick  up  a  toad 
for  its  jewel!    Neither  to  him  nor  bis  minion 
would  I  owe  anything!" 

"Yes,  yes,  you  will  live!  but  be  quick!  It  is 
I  alone  who  will  remain  here,  to  meet  the  priest, 
tbe  guards,  tbe  battled  master!  What  can  they 
do  to  one  whose  heart  is  crushed,  just  as  you 
crushed  that  viper's  head  with  that  stone! 
Pass,  with  that  ring,  out  into  life  again!" 

Her  voice  became  clear  with  a  superhuman 
effort. 

''All  went  well.  You  must  have  been  told  of 
this  outlet  to  be  so  providentially  on  the  spot. 
At  that  little  door  is  a  disguise,  concealed  un- 
der my  mantle.  I  have  been  supplied  with 
plenteous  funds — " 

"Madam,  your  money  cannot  avail  me!" 
"It  is  not  mine,  but  the  Marquis  of  Nangis' — 
Father  Joseph's,  too!  I  guessed  your  scruple! 
Let  the  poor  old  noble  see  his  nephew  once 
again!  The  guards  are  many,  but  not  that  way, 
thanks  to  my  accomplice's  arts  or  this  wretch's 
machinations.  You  can  certainly  gain  the  road, 
and  the  road  is  all  France! 

"I  remember,  too,  that  that  man  has  a  pass- 
port to  quif  he  kingdom,  an  order  to  secure  a 
ship — supply  yourself,  for  the  sea  is  the  world 
at  large!" 

Between  laughing  and  sobbing,  she  con- 
tinued: 

"You  will  preserve  your  dear  life,  and,  in  the 
convent,  I  shall  dwell  so  thankful!  Listen:  Nan- 
gis'  followers  gather  at  the  inn,  armed,  treason 


552  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

to  the  contrary!  to  hinder  the  soldiers!  Reach 
the  little  inn,  where  a  red  lamp  burns  all  night, 
and  the  farmers  will  stop  pursuit!  Let  the 
cannon  thunder  to  tell  that  you  have  fled!  the 
country-side  is  opposed  to  farther  bloodshed! 
You  will  be  protected  on  every  hand!  But, 
away!  God  impel  you!  Farewell!  best  and 
sole  beloved!" 

She  tried  to  seize  him  and  urge  him  towards 
the  postern.    He  did  not  budge. 

''Mark,  you  are  pardoned!  I  went  to  the 
King,  who  granted  your  pardon,  but  he,  the 
Man  in  Red,  cancelled  the  grace!  This  tyrant 
is  coming  whose  emissary  preceded  him  but  by 
a  little!  and  to  him  who  follows  I  wish  the 
same  fate!" 

Didier  had  no  eyes  for  the  slain ;  he  studied 
the  living  as  we  gaze  on  a  shore  from  which  we 
sail  nevermore  to  return. 

"All  is  lost  if  you  linger,  for — he  comes!" 
She  shrieked,  for  listening  on  every  side  like  a 
hunted  hare,  she  heard  unusual  movements  of 
the  garrison;  in  the  street,  at  a  little  distance, 
a  ruddy  glare  of  light  shone  before  the  hostel, 
where,  under  guise  of  awaiting  the  Cardinal's 
coming,  the  band  of  sympathisers  with  Nangis 
and  Saverny,  stood,  with  weapons  covered,  to 
assist  the  deliverance. 

"It  was  well-planned,"  said  Didier,  absently. 

Marion  expected  the  speech  and  was  rejoiced 
at  it,  though  the  tone  was  not  encouraging. 

"Quick,  then!  ah,  this  is  more  like  yourself, 
your  noble  self,  which  would  not  cause  pain  to 
anyone.  You  are  saved!  Go  in  haste,  with  all 
my  love,  darling  Didier!" 

''You  said  something  about  the  road,  at  the 
end  of  the  yard?" 

"It  leads  to  the  hostelry  where  friends  are 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  553 

waiting.  An  easy  way.  You  will  meet  no  one 
hostile,  as  the  spies  are  maltreated,  and  can- 
not associate  with  the  farmers  who  speak  an 
unknown  dialect.  The  word  is  'Savemis  and 
Nangy!'  Mark  the  distortion!  Don  the  dis- 
guise— oh!  how  we  shall  laugh  by-and-bye  at 
your  masquerade,  thinking  of  where  we  learnt 
such  tricks,  among  the  strollers.     But,  away!" 

"Nothing  presses,''  said  Didier  carelessly. 

"What  dulness — madness!  with  death  at  the 
door — at  all  doors  save  that  I  point  out!'' 

"It  is  because  you  point  it  out  that  I  do  not 
go!" 

"Because  I?    oh,  argue  no  more,  but  start!" 

"Why  have  you  come  to  disturb  me?" 

"To  save  you!"  She  gazed  on  him  as  on  a 
madman.  "What  a  question  to  put,  and  to  me, 
in  that  chilling  tone!" 

"You  ought  to  know  that  many  a  man  has 
been  made  mad,  by  woman!"  retorted  he  with 
a  mournful  smile. 

"Say  what  you  will  about  me,  to  me — but 
afterwards.  Let  us  go,  or  go,  you,  alone!  Truly, 
it  will  be  better!  Oh,  that  clamor!  If  'tis  the 
Cardinal,  come!" 

Aroused  by  the  demolition  of  the  passage 
and  by  the  fall  of  the  stones  allowing  no  doubt 
that  his  companion  had  reconsidered  his  re- 
solve and  was  breaking  out,  without  him,  Sa- 
verny  disbelieved  he  could  be  quitted  so  shame- 
fully. But  hearing  voices  beyyud,  he  cautiously 
looked  through  the  thick  wall  gap  and  beheld 
Marion  debating  in  this  singular  mode  with  her 
lover.  He  had  the  unusual  delicacy  to  wait, 
though  each  moment  was  vital.  But  as  Didier 
persisted  in  refusing  the  boon  and  he  was  not 
himself  squeamish,  he  decided  to  show  his  head 
in  the  breach.     He  stopped  short,  horrified  at 


554     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

seeing  the  two  partly-shrouded  and  mangled 
bodies  of  the  dignitaries;  their  heads  were  not 
discernible  and  he  could  only  guess  at  their 
identity  upon  his  surmises. 

"Has  he  killed  the  priest,  and  the  commis- 
sioner? pretty  return  for  his  coming  to  read 
our  abated  sentence!" 

"Who  is  this?"  said  Didier  pointing  over  his 
shoulder  to  the  marquis. 

Astonished  at  the  question,  fearful  that  she 
was  facing  one  whom  confinement  had  crazed, 
the  woman  replied  sorrowfully: 

"Do  you  not  know  your  friends?  not  your 
companion  in  captivity?  Haste  away  with 
him!  he  will  be  welcomed  by  his  people,  and 
your  rescue  will  be  the  surer!" 

She  warmly  beckoned  Saverny  to  enter  the 
chapel. 

"Begone,  both  of  you!"  she  added  as  he 
scrambled  through.  "I  implore  it,  on  my 
knees!" 

"For  which  of  us  do  you  make  this  attempt?" 
coldly  demanded  Didier. 

For  a  moment  stupefied,  Marion  speedily  re- 
covered her  calm,  but  it  was  with  hurt  pride 
that  she  rose  and  responded  loftily: 

"Is  it  thus  you  speak  to  your  betrothed  be- 
fore a  third  party?  What  ill-will  do  you  bear 
me,  to  treat  me  no  better?" 

"I  bear  ill-will  for  no  one.  But  look  me 
steadily  in  the  eye!" 

She  met  his  gaze  unflinchingly.  At  resuming 
connection  with  those  glorious  orbs  which  dis- 
tress had  not  impaired,  he  shuddered.  Unfor- 
tunately, she  was  too  much  like  the  portrait 
given  him  by  Saverny,  and  all  the  ignominious 
memories,  thronging  round  that  likeness  like 
graces  about  a  Venus,  kept  him  frigid.    His 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  555 

searching  look  intimidated  her.  Better  than 
the  Parisian  witch,  he  seemed  to  read  her,  and 
her  story;  ii  counted  her  host  of  admirers,  and 
the  offerings  heaped  on  her  Place  Roy  ale  altar. 

But  she  reassured  herself,  reasoning  that  one 
who  saw  so  much  must  also  sec1  how  well  she 
loved  him. 

"You  behave  harshly  towards  me,  Didier, 
since  you  cherished  some  hurtful  secret  against 
me.  Tell  me  all,  at  this  mighty  instant.  Often, 
evil  is  dreamt  of  and  misery  flows  from  a  con- 
cealed cause,  for  which  suppression  one  be- 
comes grieved.  It  is  not  so  long,  I  trow,  since 
I  had  a  share  in  your  thoughts.  Has  all  that 
passed?  Do  you  no  longer  love  me?  Do  you 
not  remember  Blois — our  little  room  where  we 
dwelt  in  profound  peace  and  bliss?  How  well 
we  loved,  far  from  the  blatant  world's  remind- 
ers! 

"Yet,  even  there,  you  were  ill  at  ease!  Time 
and  again,  I  said  to  myself:  'How  sad  in  one 
who  onght  to  look  his  happiness!'  It  was  a 
delightful  time,  but  in  a  day — an  hour,  swords 
clashed  and  rang  the  knell  of  our  joy! 

"Dear  soul,  how  many  times  you  said  that  I 
was  your  love,  and  in  what  words  of  flame!  that 
in  me  nestled  all  your  confidence,  and  that  I 
could  make  you  anything  I  pleased.  What  re- 
quests have  I  ever  put  to  you?  You  know  how 
often  I  have  entered  into  your  ideas — so,  this 
night,  yield  to  one  of  mine!" 

Spite  of  his  resistance,  she  clung  to  him,  for- 
getful of  the  marquis,  who  remained  astride  of 
the  dead  bodies  as  if  he  slew  them  in  defence 
of  the  position.  He  listened  with  dread  to  the 
tumult  at  the  town  bars. 

"Our  lives  are  at  stake,"  continued  she  in  a 
voice  that  might  awaken  those  dead  and  thaw 


556  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

the  granite.     "With  you,   come  what  may — 
flight  or  scaffold,  and  all  is  sweet!'' 

He  tried  to  disentangle  her  clasped  fingers 
and  detach  her  arms  from  round  his  neck;  to 
lift  her  head,  with  the  magnificent  tresses  di- 
shevelled, from  resting  on  his  breast.  She  re- 
tained hold  of  his  hands  and  drew  him  down 
upon  a  stall;  she  pillowed  her  head  on  his  knee 
even  while  beseeching  him  to  flee. 

She  had  taken  no  rest  lately;  slept  not  at 
all ;  she  had  been  scouring  the  town  to  arrange 
the  deliverance,  and  she  was  wearv.  Weary  al- 
so  over  his  unbroken  resolve  not  to  be  saved  by 
her. 

Saverny  was  a  petrified  witness  of  this  com- 
bat of  love  and  honor;  alone  in  him  of  the  two 
men,  his  heart  ached  to  see  her  weeping  whom 
he  had  hitherto  seen  laughing;  never  had  any- 
one dared  to  refuse  her  lightest  caprice!  What 
man  was  this  who  could  repulse  a  Marion's 
strenuous  pleading! 

She  suffered  more  from  Didier's  silence  than 
from  his  dislike  to  accepting  rescue  from  her. 
More  painful  than  anything  she  had  experi- 
enced was  the  inability  now  to  extract  a  sylla- 
ble from  those  marble  lips;  she  had  brushed 
them  with  hers  and  they  had  not  warmed  a  jot 
— rather,  they  had  frozen  hers. 

"It  were  more  humane  to  stab  her  with  one 
of  those  bodkins  next  these  murdered  men," 
thought  Saverny,  beginning  to  hate  this  stern 
comrade  who  afflicted  Marion. 

Suddenly  she  dried  her  eyes  as  a  new  light 
shone  in  them. 

"Die,  if  you  will,"  said  she  with  ghastly  play- 
fulness, "but  smile  again!  Let  me  see  you 
laugh  before — Come,  come,  I  have  too  long 
acted  on  your  will — it  is  my  turn  to  be  obeyed. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  557 

Slmke  off  the  bitterness  with  which  your  chains 
have  infused  your  soul,  and  speak  to  me — call 
me  'Marie  dearest'  as  of  old-time!" 

"Marie  op  .Marion!"    He  spoke  at  last. 

She  fell  back,  terrified,  thunderstruck. 

All  was  over  with  her  deceit.  Had  Saverny, 
grinning  there  like  the  demons  sculptured  on 
the  oaken  screen,  betrayed  her,  maligned  her? 
worse,  told  the  truth! 

"Oh,  be  clement,  Didier!"  she  gasped,  bow- 
ing herself  lower  than  she  had  to  the  King. 

"Woman,"  said  Didier,  in  a  piercing  voice, 
"this  is  Kueil  Castle,  special  prison  of  the 
Prime  Minister,  where  ingress  is  not  easy. 
Night  as  day,  the  walls  are  guarded,  and  the 
approaches  watched.  These  walls  are  thick; 
these  locks,  miracles  of  forging.  Your  tale  of 
a  Breton  baron  having  the  golden  key  to  open 
these  fastenings  is  false!  Under  patronage  of 
what  high  functionary  have  you  passed  the 
compliant  sentries  and  found  out  the  weak 
points  so  that  I  should  be  here,  and  beside 
you?" 

"I  vow  that  Nangis  aided  me — that  Saverny's 
men  await  without!" 

"You  were  admitted  by  traitors,  perhaps  by 
the  Lieutenant-Civil  himself!"  He  spurned  the 
mantle  partly  veiling  the  dead  judges.  "No- 
body rules  here  save  Richelieu,  or  his  repre- 
sentative." 

"Then,  you  did  not  hear?  I — even  to  save 
you,  to  tear  you  out  of  these  toils — I,  stoop  to  a 
Laffemas!  Not  yet  do  you  know  Marion  De- 
lorme,  Didier!" 

"I  thank  you,  lady,  for  what  you  have  done, 
but  I  cannot  evade  the  gallows  on  a  by-way  of 
shame.  Heaven's  hand  is  in  the  descent  of  a 
stone,  who  doubts?     Look!"  he  held  up  her 


558     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

miniature  and  rived  it — ground  it  to  shreds  in 
his  frenzied  grasp,  "I  bruise  the  cockatrice!  I 
crush  its  head  as  I  did  that  of  the  Judas-judge! 
and  this  renegade-turnkey's,  I  suppose — our 
vampire  Vizier's  satraps!" 

"The  other  fellow  is  Laubardemont!"  ex- 
claimed the  marquis,  feeling  his  hair  rise  on 
end  at  the  enormity  of  the  fatality  his  comrade 
had  wrought. 

"My  portrait!"  sighed  Marion,  blushing  with 
indignation  as  if  her  face  had  been  slapped,  as 
some  of  the  fragments  fell  to  be  smeared  with 
the  coagulated  gore. 

"Abide  with  your  partner  in  this  foul  tran- 
saction! I  misread  his  character  if  he  will 
have  a  second  mourner!  I  will  go  from  here 
solely  to  the  gallows!  In  perverted  justice's 
scales  themselves,  my  head  will  yet  outweigh  a 
courtesan's  fame!" 

"Do  not  treat  me  thus  unfairly!"  appealed 
Marion,  rising  as  if  more  bravely  to  breast  the 
storm.  "Your  scorn  makes  me  tremble  so  that 
I  fear  in  another  instant  I  shall  lie  similarly 
shattered  at  your  feet.  Blind  wretch!  If  ever 
there  were  a  love  strong,  true  and  ardent — if 
ever  a  man  were  singled  out  for  perfect  adora- 
tion from  among  the  chosen — oh!  Didier,  you 
were  that  man!" 

Saverny  could  hardly  restrain  himself  from 
applauding  this  outburst  which  should  have 
convinced  the  other  hearer,  but  this  one  re- 
sponded, with  a  wave  of  the  hand  to  silence 
her: 

"Had  I  been  born  a  woman,  and  grown  up 
idolised  by  the  whole  town,  covered  with  gold 
and  gems,  sporting  with  ordinary  hearts  as 
boys  play  with  flies,  I  would  sooner  have  dug 
my  grave  with  my  nails  than  deceived  a  man 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  559 

who  trusted  me.  entirely,  unknowing  my  true 
self.  I  would  not  have  beguiled  a  soul  full  of 
illusions;  not  have  cheated  him  because  he  was 
ignorant;  I  might  glory  in  worsting — in  con- 
quering the  wary  and  open-eyed,  but  to  trick 
a  faithful  spirit,  to  gull  a  confiding  one,  to  let 
a  chaste  and  pure  eye  over-value  the  flawed 
pearl — to  be  so  very,  very  perfidious,  false  and 
ungrateful — out  upon  you,  Jezebel!" 

Cowering  under  this  invective,  Marion  made 
as  if  to  drop  at  his  feet,  but  the  dead  were 
there;  she  hid  her  face  in  her  loosened  tresses. 

"My  heart  was  a  distorting  mirror,  which  it 
would  make  you  laugh  to  behold,"  pursued  he. 
''In  that  you  were  reflected  as  if  pure,  candid, 
and  perfect!  Oh,  woman,  what  monster 
have  you  changed  your  worshiper  into — one 
who  so  long  adored  at  your  hem?  Who  knows 
but  that  I  should  have  the  thanks  of  gallants, 
possibly  your  favorites,  if  I  spare  you  and  do 
not  crush  you  on  these  stones?" 

She  dared  not  look  Towards  him;  but  her 
wavering  sight  crossed  the  glances  of  Saverny, 
whom  it  implored  to  kill  her  instead  of  defend- 
ing her  against  his  companion's  threat.  On  the 
rack  she  would  undergo  less  anguish. 

A  bell  ringing,  not  tolling,  surely  in  joy, 
broke  the  tension.  She  sprang  up,  remember- 
ing what  dread  arbiter  of  this  dear  life  was  at 
hand,  so  merrily  greeted. 

"Didier,  time  flies  and  the  sole  chance  van- 
ishes. I  have  no  right  to  say  a  word  to  you, 
Didier,  but  having  rebuked  me  and  cursed  me, 
you  can  say  no  more.  More  than  your  hate  and 
derision  I  deserve,  but  it  shows  how  good  you 
are  to  upbraid  me  so  lightly,  and  my  braised 
spirit  blesses  you.  But  I  see  the  frightful  hour 
approach!  the  tyrant  is  near  you,  and  his  hand 


560  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

waves  the  deathsruan  on  to  seize  his  prey.  Do 
not  delay!  Flee!  You  forget  all,  but  the  min- 
ions of  the  law  have  sound  memories!  Recall 
that  all  is  prepared  for  your  deliverance.  Strike 
me  down — make  me  a  stepping-stone  to  your 
liberty!  leave  me  in  the  opprobrium  I  merit  and 
to  the  repentance,  my  only  refuge,  but  flee, 
though  over  my  aching  heart!" 

"Flee!  what  do  I  want  to  avoid  but  you?  my 
most  welcome  refuge  is  in  the  grave,  which 
happily  is  yawning!" 

The  clock  struck  midnight  and  the  surround- 
ing village  churches  began  repeating  the 
strokes  at  a  respectful  interval,  as  though  they 
durst  not  offend  the  Cardinal's  Castle  by  over- 
haste. 

"Go!"  repeated  Marion,  approaching  so  that 
his  retreat  in  abhorrence  would  commence  his 
departure. 

"I  am  not  willing,"  he  said,  folding  his  arms. 

"Oh,  pity!" 

"For  whom?"  asked  he,  looking  round. 

"Am  I  to  see  you  arrested,  bound,  dragged  to 
the  block?  A  thought  which  fills  me  with  new 
agony!  Come,  let  me  lead  you  to  freedom!  As 
your  servant,  allow  this!  Take  me,  with  all  my 
misdeeds  upon  me  to  expiate,  and  treat  me  as 
the  rug  beneath  your  feet.  Oh,  do  you  no  long- 
er know  that  vou  besought  me  to  be  your 
wife?" 

"Wife?"  repeated  Didier,  incredulously. 

A  cannon  boom  was  heard  and  shook  the 
painted  glass  panes. 

"The  Cardinal  is  at  his  gates!"  said  Saverny, 
half-aloud,  chafing  at  this  long  delay,  yet 
shrinking  from  interfering  where  Marion  failed 
to  urge. 

"This  is  the  high  priest  who  will  not  wed  you 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  561 

but  pronounce  you  a  widow!"  drily  responded 
Didier. 

Trumpets  sounded  and  drums  beat. 

"It  is  certainly  the  duke,"  said  the  marquis. 
"Well,  lure  goes  one  out  of  the  net!"  he  added, 
recovering  lightness  of  foot  and  spirit  at  the 
dread  of  facing  the  ogre. 

He  skipped  over  the  dead  men. 

"Brother,"  he  said  flippantly  to  Didier,  who 
frowned  as  if  only  now  aware  of  his  nearness, 
"I  have  had  a  dream,  making  me  entertain  an 
enviable  idea  of  life.  Farewell,  lady  fair!  I  am 
going  to  try  to  rejoice  my  good  nunkey!  Did- 
ier, shake  hands  before  I  run  the  raking  tire! 
may  the  scarlet  arquebusiers  be  as  bad  shots 
as  I  am  at  poetry!" 

Didier  hesitated,  but  it  was  impossible  to 
preserve  sternness  towards  this  sprite  of  fri- 
volity. He  took  his  hand  and  embraced  him, 
without  cavil — affectionately. 

"You  bid  him  farewell,  and  have  no  kind 
word  for  me,  at  our  parting?"  jealously  re- 
buked the  witness,  drawing  near  as  though  to 
separate  them. 

"This  is  a  friend,"  said  Didier,  returning,  as 
the  marquis  disappeared  by  the  secret  door, 
waving  his  hand  in  a  gesture  of  farewell,  com- 
prising both. 

"Sooth!  you  are  too  hard  upon  a  woman  who 
has  prayed  more  to  all  for  your  deliverance 
than  ever  for  her  soul's  from  the  Arch-Enemy," 
persisted  Marion. 

Didier  had  paused,  oscillating  between  the 
last  pang  at  parting  with  the  marquis,  the 
black  terror  of  rising  death,  and  a  tremendous 
idea  which  suddenly  overwhelmed  his  brain. 

Marion  had  suggested  it. 

"The  tyrant  comes,  this  Moloch  of  France, 


562  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

whose  eyes  have  gloated  on  our  best  country- 
men's blood!  He  conies  to  see  us  die,  as 
though  death's  dart  would  fail  to  pierce  his 
sacred  robe!  Saverny  is  safe!  My  life  is  not 
worth  that  jester's  bauble!  Let  me  deliver 
France  of  its  scarlet  bugbear,  and  at  least  I 
shall  earn  such  thanks  as  are  due  tyranni- 
cides!" 

Rapt  in  this  conception,  he  did  not  see  the 
poor  creature  melting  into  tears  at  his  feet. 

"Do  you  not  follow  the  marquis?"  said  she. 

This  entire  devotion  to  him  affected  him  more 
than  before,  since,  in  his  mind,  he  had  doubly 
forfeited  his  life. 

Was  he  to  go  forth  to  win  a  people's  bless- 
ings and  not  let  this  one  poor  heart  cherish  a 
little  relief  after  all  her  exertions  on  his  be- 
half, with  so  paltry  a  return?  He  could  no 
longer  preserve  a  brazen  brow  after  steeling 
his  broken  heart  to  execute  a  murderous  re- 
solve. 

He  stooped,  opening  his  arms,  and  spasmodi- 
cally lifted  her  upon  his  bosom. 

"I  am  going  out  to  certain  death,"  said  he, 
"but  I  go  with  a  two-fold  joy.  As  a  patriot,  I 
rejoice  at  the  mission  charged  to  me,  and  as  a 
man,  I  rejoice  that  after  all  I  love  you.  The 
man  who  has  not  loved,  even  an  unworthy  ob- 
ject, quits  the  world  as  incomplete  as  the  still- 
born.   To  love  is  the  supreme  gladness!" 

All  gloom  fled  from  his  face;  a  glory  seemed 
to  emanate  from  every  feature;  she  started 
from  him  in  the  amazement  succeeding  her 
bliss  at  the  revulsion. 

He  was  all  she  had  judged,  then;  he  could 
not  die  without  pity  and  forgiveness.  What- 
ever she  had  been  to  others,  "Our  good  Marion" 
— such  was  their  favorite  epithet — had  been  to 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  563 

him  ever  kind,  cheerful,  affectionate  and  de- 
voted. If  she  had  kept  back  her  previous  ca- 
reer, it  was  for  love  of  him — from  fear  of  pain- 
ing him.  He  had  placed  faith  in  her,  and,  she 
knew,  she  had  never  imperilled  it.  This  dead 
man  at  their  feet,  that  fugitive  over  whose  fate 
she  felt  no  concern,  they  were  testimony  that 
she  loved  but  once,  and  its  object  was  here. 

Another  reflection  softened  him.  Like  him- 
self, since  her  origin  was  humble,  her  mother, 
like  his  own,  had  not  been  by  to  guide  the  in- 
fant steps;  her  father  had  not  led  her  in  less 
tender  years,  and  guarded  her  from  the  tempta- 
tions crowding  on  a  beautiful  maid. 

At  his  last  hour,  the  earth  seemed  to  fade 
from  him,  and  speech  became  sincere  as  before 
the  August  Tribunal. 

"Marie,  my  love,  my  wife!"  he  cried,  feeling 
that  her  soul,  become  innocent  anew,  would 
meet  nowhere  aught  so  exalted.  "Hear  me  as 
I  forgive  you,  in  the  name  of  the  Power  who 
hath  alleviated  dissolution's  pangs  by  pointing 
out  how  its  inevitable  course  ends  in  glory." 

She  vainly  tried  to  show  her  gratitude  for 
this  pardon,  for  her  voice  was  stifled  in  sobs. 

He  was  kneeling  to  her  when  they  heard,  at 
the  main  door,  the  musketeers  ground  their 
heavy  guns  and  the  officers  draw  their  swords. 

"It  is  my  turn  now  to  beg  your  pardon,"  said 
he. 

She  lowered  both  hands  to  lift  him  up,  with- 
out a  word,  but  her  recovered  smile  proved 
that  she  would  not  hesitate. 

"I  was  the  wicked  one.  I  am  the  scourge  by 
which  heaven  smote  and  lacerated  you.  Weep 
for  me,  though  others  may  laud  my  death!  I 
go  with  the  huge  remorse  of  having  caused  you 
sorrow,  Marie.     With  your  lips  to  mine,  my 


564  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

ever-dear  Marie,  say  you  forgive  me!"  con- 
tinued he,  enfolding  her  to  his  heart,  no  longer 
cold. 

Her  rapture  was  beyond  utterance;  the 
phrase  in  which  she  strove  to  exhale  it  was 
unintelligible.  She  swooned,  and  sank  out  of 
his  arms. 

A  door  opened,  at  this  juncture,  but  it  was 
not  at  the  main  entrance.  An  inner  one  from 
the  castle  admitted  a  stranger,  accompanied  by 
Saverny — the  picture  of  consternation. 

"Forgive  me,  my  lord,"  this  stranger  was 
saying,  "but  you  took  the  wrong  turn.  But 
nothing  presses!  besides,  I  desire  your  com- 
pany." 

Didier  had  caught  up  a  stylet;  he  advanced 
but  stopped,  thinking  that  he  had  seen  this 
speaker  before. 

"The  priest,"  said  he,  for  the  intruder  wore 
a  cassock  over  a  riding  dress. 

"A  priest,"  replied  the  other;  "do  you  not 
recognize  me?  M.  Didier,  I  am  that  Abbe  de 
Gondi  who  was  your  second  in  a  little  affair 
on  the  Pont  Neuf.  I  am  come,  not  for  the  dread 
errand  that  you  assume — natural  the  error! 
but  to  second  you  again  in  a  happier  meet- 
ing!" 

He  bowed  to  Marion  who  was  as  much  puz- 
zled as  the  two  men.  But  she  well  knew  the 
Coadjutor  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris. 

"Let  me  marry  you!  The  lady  will  have  a 
fresh  plea  for  the  Cardinal's  mercy  on  behalf 
of  her  husband!     Monsieur  will  be  my  clerk." 

"I?"  ejaculated  Saverny  in  horror. 

Never  had  he  passed  such  a  nightmare, 
Stopped  in  his  wandering  by  Gondi,  he  had  let 
himself  be  led  back,  fearing  the  worst.    To  be 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  565 

a  priest's  clerk,  at  a  wedding,  and  that,  Marion 
Delorme's! 

With  the  ease  and  speed  of  practice,  Gondi 
saw  that  the  articles  for  the  marriage  were 
ready,  thanks  to  Laffemas'  prevision.  He  lit 
the  tapers,  and  performed  the  service  for  the 
astounded  Didier  and  Marion,  while  the  town 
was  echoing  with  the  music,  shouts  and  clash 
of  arms  over  the  Cardinal's  arrival  into  Rueil. 

In  their  blissful  amaze  they  seemed  ob- 
livious of  the  clamor. 

The  vaults  reverberated,  but  the  four  were 
calm,  Saverny  having  caught  the  lofty  con- 
tagion. In  giving  the  ring,  Didier  thought- 
lessly handed  the  abbe  the  signet  of  the  Prime 
Minister,  at  which  he  smiled  scarcely  percepti- 
bly in  surprise. 

Meanwhile  the  noise  at  the  main  entrance 
continued  where  the  soldiers  had  remained; 
lights  flashed;    weapons  ominously  jangled. 

Was  this  a  device  of  the  cruel  Cardinal  to 
make  death  more  awful! 

Gondi  uttered  with  unction: 

"Those  whom  God  hath  joined,  let  no  man 
put  asunder!" 

Both  the  great  doors  were  flung  open. 

Armed  men  inarched  orderly  within,  their 
steel  flashing  in  rich  torchlight,  their  match- 
locks reeking,  to  form  the  animated  back- 
ground to  Captain  Cavoye,  who  strode  upon 
the  black  and  grey  flags  and  said: 

"You  are  the  person  named  Didier?"  He 
did  not  even  look  around  for  his  companion  in 
captivity,  and,  stranger  yet,  appeared  not  to 
feel  any  shock  at  seeing  the  marquis  beside  the 
priest. 

But  he  exchanged  a  rapid  glance  with  Gondi, 
who  said  quickly: 


566  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

"It  is  M.  Didier,  and  this  is  bis  wife!  I  pray 
you  deal  gently  with  a  newly-made  wife!" 

"Come,"  continued  Cavoye,  hiding  any  emo- 
tion in  the  frowning  grey  brows  and  the  still 
black  mustache.  "I  am  to  lead  you  before  his 
Eminence  who  is  at  home  in  Rueil." 

Didier  had  let  Marion  sink  to  the  floor, 
where  he  drew  an  altar-cloth  over  her. 

"Pardon  the  sacrilege,"  said  he  softly  to 
Gondi.  "This  is  a  poor  martyr  eager  to  end 
her  days  in  Mother  Church." 

The  abbe  came  over  and  took  up  Marion,  in 
the  wrapper,  for  which  act  Didier  bowed  to 
him. 

Saverny  had  profited  by  his  being  ignored  to 
slip  behind  the  reredos  and  make  a  second  at- 
tempt at  escape,  in  which  he  was  more  success- 
ful. 

"Captain,  take  me,"  said  Didier,  smiling  to 
himself  at  this  conduct  shortening  his  road  to 
his  new  goal.  "I  am  wounded  to  the  heart  by 
love,  and  I  am  content  to  die,  for  it  is  in- 
curable!" 

He  placed  himself  beside  Cavoye,  who  waved 
his  sword  for  his  men  to  surround  the  pris- 
oner. 

"They  make  no  to-do  about  the  marquis,  who 
has  slipped  out,"  commented  the  last,  with  a 
smile.  "And  they  fix  such  undivided  attention 
upon  me  that  they  do  not  search  and  discover 
those  dead.  All  goes  well!  I,  alone,  am  to 
meet  the  oppressor!" 

In  the  yard,  the  gates  had  been  opened  to 
the  townsfolk's  amaze,  since  the  castle  had  al- 
ways been  a  sealed  abode;  and  a  multitude  had 
gathered.  A  greater  number  streamed  along 
the  road  to  greet  the  Master  of  France;  these 
saluted   Didier,   with  many  an  eye  wet  with 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  567 

sympathy,  and  many  a  hand  held  up  to  shake 
his,  if  the  guards  had  permitted  the  act,  while 
the  other  held  the  cudgel. 

"You  are  come  to  Bee  me  go  to  my  doom," 
said  Didier  firmly,  "bear  witness  that  I  did 
not  flinch  when  eternity  sounded  for  me!" 


568     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 


EPILOGUE. 


Marion  awoke  from  a  sleep  seeming  very 
long.  She  looked  around.  Didier's  pardon  had 
so  uplifted  her  that  she  forgot  in  what  sombre 
circumstances  it  was  accorded. 

She  was  alone  in  the  chapel  but  for  the 
abbe  who  was  praying,  not  for  her  but  over  the 
corpses,  which  he  had  discovered. 

Not  far  off  the  joyous  music  continued, 
marred  bv  enthusiastic  shouts.  In  a  breath  she 
recalled  all. 

"The  wolves  are  howling  over  the  prey!"  said 
she,  rising  and  wringing  her  hands  distracted- 
ly. "Those  good-men  will  go  home  and  tell 
their  wives  and  little  ones  of  the  execution, 
and  feel  no  shame  that  they  let  the  crime  be 
consummated!  Why  did  not  the  captain's 
sword  pierce  me  before  its  shadow  hovered 
over  you,  oh,  my  beloved,  on  your  march  to  the 
block!" 

Gondi  rose  from  kneeling,  and  sprinkled  holy 
water  profusely  about  the  corpses. 

"Madam,  it  is  never  too  late,"  said  he.  "Noth- 
ing has  been  done  yet.  The  Cardinal-duke  slow- 
ly draws  near.  There  is  yet  time  to  ask  grace 
of  his  Eminence  for  your  husband!" 

"Husband!   that  was  not  a  dream,  then?" 

The  half-hour  after  midnight  rang. 

At  all  events,  Didier  had  lived  into  another 
morning!     Gondi  wore  the  ecclesiastic's  and 


UK,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  5G9 

the  politician's  passionless  face  but  his  speech 
was  kind  enough. 

"The  Cardinal-duke's  grace?"  repeated  Mar- 
ion. "You  are  right!  He  is  a  man  of  God! 
God's  man  over  this  kingdom,  and  he  will  hear 
iny  wifely  plea,  will  he  not?  He  may  repent 
that  he  revoked  the  King's  pardon!  He  is  an 
old  man — a  sickly  one — so  near  the  grave,  he 
will  rather  drag  another  back  than  push  him 
in!  say  you  not  so?  The  good  Cardinal,  the 
great  Minister,  he  will  overlook  this  offence, 
since  the  young  man  has  suffered  so  much  al- 
ready!    Take  me  to  him,  good  father." 

"Go!  no  one  will  obstruct  you,"  said  the 
Abbe  of  Notre  Dame.  "I  have  to  stay  and 
pray  here,  for  blood  has  stained  the  fane.  This 
is  no  longer  a  house  of  God.  It  must  be  con- 
secrated anew.  Go,  in  faith,  daughter!  If 
that  young  man  is  not  to  lead  you  into  the 
home  of  happiness,  turn  you,  as  he  said,  into  a 
House  of  Peace!" 

Marion  had  not  listened  to  all  his  sentence. 
Darting  out  of  the  chapel,  crossing  the  yard, 
and  finding  all  issues  unblocked,  she  rushed 
along  the  street. 

The  black  drapery  was  let  down,  after  mask- 
ing the  breach  for  the  litter's  passage;  the 
gap  yawned  in  the  night  like  the  mouth  of 
Acheron. 

All  the  illuminations  had  gone  to  greet  the 
distinguished  Lord  of  Bueil. 

Soon  Marion  saw  the  gigantic  litter  lumber- 
ing up  the  way  and  almost  filling  it.  The  gol- 
den ornaments  on  the  violet  cloth  little  relieved 
its  gloom.  Around  the  sturdy  men  wTho  bore 
the  long,  pliant  ash  poles,  marched  foot  guards, 
with  horsemen  outside  of  them;  all  tramped 
with  jauntiness  as  if  to  show  the  rustics  that 


570  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

they  mocked  at  the  toil  with  the  honor  of  it 
to  enliven  them.  Torches  in  many  hands  cast 
brilliancy  on  the  scene.  The  music  was  so 
gay  that  the  Ked  Robe  seemed  coming  to  nup- 
tials. 

Marion's  elated  heart  sank  on  beholding  the 
retinue.  He  who  forged  that  heavy  diadem 
under  which  Louis  tottered,  was  advancing  like 
Alexander.  Never  in  Paris  had  his  might 
struck  her  as  so  lofty  and  unchallengeable  as 
in  this  village  by  night. 

As  she  stopped,  a  well-known  voice  whis- 
pered in  her  ear: 

''Cheer  up!  Let  us  together  accost  this  tiger 
in  the  travelling  mitre!  Zounds!  it  will  be  a 
stony  heart  which  resists  our  double  enfilade, 
look  you!" 

It  was  Saverny.  The  generous  youth  had 
not  accepted  his  safety.  He  had  sworn  to  be 
at  Didier's  execution,  and  he  was  returning  to 
stand  beside  him,  despite  Brichanteau's  remon- 
strances at  such  folly. 

Already  the  cumbersome  vehicle  was  near.  It 
surged  upon  them  like  a  galleon  on  a  breaker 
to  capsize  two  petty  skiffs. 

Suddenly  the  curtains  were  parted  on  both 
sides.  Unlike  the  veiled  divinities  of  the  East, 
Richelieu  feared  not  to  show  himself  to  the 
people,  even  though  they  regarded  him  as  an 
oppressor,  like  their  betters. 

Saverny  on  one  side,  and  Marion  on  the 
other,  as  they  knelt,  overpowered  by  the  inva- 
lid's majesty,  raised  their  voices: 

"I  am  the  Marquis  of  Saverny,  and  out  from 
under  mine  own  doom  of  death,  I  crave  the 
pardon  of  mv  antagonist,  the  gentleman  named 
Didier!" 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  571 

And  Marion's  cry,  in  a  silvery  voice,  was 
clear: 

"In  the  name  of  our  Christ  All-merciful, 
whose  image  glitters  on  your  breast,  and  of 
your  race,  my  lord,  pardon  for  the  doomed  to 
die!     I  beg  mercy  for  my  husband!" 

To  the  noble,  denouncing  himself  so  daunt- 
lesslv  on  the  border  of  the  land  of  liberty  which 
he  repelled,  Richelieu  answered: 

"Await!" 

To  the  kneeling  woman,  he  added  what  so 
few  had  heard  from  those  compressed  lips  at 
such  junctures: 

"Hope!" 

The  litter  passed  on  to  where  it  met  Didier, 
held  under  guard  in  its  path. 

Marion  was  jostled  by  the  hurrying  mob  as 
soon  as  the  marquis  raised  her  up. 

"Wait  and  hope!"  repeated  he,  as  one  in  a 
stupor.  ''The  world  is  turning  over-heels!  I 
denounce  myself  in  Rueil  and  no  one  offers  to 
detain  me!  Brichanteau  and  our  tenants  are 
bewitched  and  yell  'Long  live  the  great  Cardi- 
nal!' Let  us  follow  and  see  what  thunderclap 
will  befall  our  friend!" 

Nothing  so  refreshes  the  blood  as  a  good  ac- 
tion, and  the  throng,  as  well  as  the  military, 
seemed  permeated  by  the  surprise  and  happi- 
ness which  the  unexpected,  unexampled — said 
some — graciousness  of  the  Friine  Minister  dif- 
fused. 

Didier  was  conducted  to  the  part  of  the 
courtyard  where  the  litter  was  set  down. 

For  the  nonce,  it  was  converted  into  a  ca- 
pacious roofless  hall.  The  hangings,  in  har- 
mony with  those  of  the  scaffold,  would  have 
been  most  lugubrious,  but  the  excess  of  light 
was  exhilarating.     The  archers,  watchmen,  and 


572  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

guards  had  cast  down  the  partly  consumed 
flambeaux  into  a  heap,  and  this  bonfire,  blazing 
with  all  the  brightness  of  pitch  and  little  of 
its  smoke,  was  supplemented  by  that  of  the 
fresh  torches,  carried  by  every  other  man, 
ranked  along  the  rectangle's  walls. 

Though  assisted  to  alight  from  his  litter, 
Richelieu  dispensed  with  the  arm  Cavoye  ten- 
dered him,  to  the  general  surprise,  and  stepped 
toward  the  prisoner  with  a  smile,  rather  wel- 
coming than  masking  a  menace  or  treachery. 

"Sa,  ha!"  exclaimed  he,  "so,  this  is  our  in- 
corrigible young  duellist?  You  begin  by 
breaking  a  braggart's  head  for  insulting  his 
superiors  and  you  end  by  breaking  the  royal 
mandate!" 

Agitation  shook  the  bystanders.  What  an 
odd,  jocular  reception  to  an  offender! 

His  penetrative  glance  had  scrutinised  the 
gentleman,  and  he  seemed  appeased — satisfied. 
Indeed,  snatched  from  the  dungeon,  careless 
as  to  his  attire  under  his  poignant  grief  over 
the  discovery  of  Marion's  true  standing,  wan, 
famished,  but  haughty — joyed  at  having  set 
the  seal  upon  Marion's  redemption,  and  now 
fired  with  the  Brutus'  spirit,  he  looked  a  noble 
man.  Besides,  face  to  face  with  one  he  es- 
teemed as  his  country's  enemy,  his  eyes  kindled, 
his  nostrils  quivered  like  a  war-horse's,  and  he 
bore  insolently  the  glance  usually  consuming. 

Richelieu  seemed  fired  by  this  pertness.  For 
all  of  his  wearing  a  cardinal's  violet-mourning, 
he  reminded  the  veterans  who  knew  him  at  La 
Rochelle  Siege,  of  the  Church-militant,  in  steel 
breast-plate  over  buff  coat,  with  sword  not  al- 
together for  ornament,  and  spurs.  The  pallid, 
ailing  old  prelate  seemed  transformed  by  the 
insolence  of  this  unknown  youth. 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  5T3 

"Long  live  the  great  Duke!"  shouted  Cavoye, 
galled  by  this  impudence  into  enthusiasm,  odd 
in  a  martinet  and  old  soldier. 

Enthusiasm  gains  on  all  sides  when  sincere, 
like  the  ripple  spread  by  a  stone  in  the  water; 
guards,  castle  watch,  servants,  villagers,  yeo- 
men of  Nangis  and  Saverny,  the  curiosity-seek- 
ers, all  the  assemblage,  like  the  town  without, 
repeated  the  acclamation  and  Richelieu  ap- 
peared pleased. 

Suddenly  Didier  bent  the  knee  and  with 
scorn  dropped  under  foot  Laubardemont's  sty- 
let. Though  the  unmasked  threat  was  now 
clear,  the  Cardinal  did  not  frown;  he  could 
not  have  understood  why  he  was  to  be  assassi- 
nated by  this  young  man  to  whom  he  was  clem- 
ent, but  he  regarded  the  return  to  Christian 
feeling  as  heaven-prompted.  There  was  grati- 
tude in  his  eyes. 

In  an  awkward  interval,  an  interruption 
came. 

Slowly  and  solemnly,  Gondi  walked  through 
the  crowd,  all  giving  way  to  him.  The  soldiers 
themselves  allowed  him  to  reach  the  Cardinal's 
side. 

"In  the  chapel  lay  two  dead,"  said  he.  "One 
prisoner  has  fled — no,  I  see  the  Marquis  of  Sa- 
verny  there!  The  dead  are  Laubardemont  and 
Laffemas — " 

At  this  name  all  eyes  were  fastened  on  the 
Prime  Minister  to  see  how  he  bore  the  news. 

"Our  two  Lieutenant-Criminals?"  said  he  in 
pure  surprise,  but  with  certainly  no  grief. 

"A  portion  of  the  wall  fell  upon  them,"  ex- 
plained the  abbe,  in  ignorance  or  by  design 
to  shield  Didier  and  Saverny;  "but  previously, 
the  Chief  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Tribunal  had 
been  stabbed  to  death.     Moreover,  a  strange 


574  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

gag,  of  wood  shaped  like  a  pear,  of  which  the 
jointed  portions  could  be  expanded  by  mechan- 
ism, stifled  him  while  in  the  last  throes!" 

"The  serpent  swallowed  his  own  virus,"  re- 
marked Richelieu,  without  taking  his  eyes  off 
the  prisoner.  "Singular!  Laffemas  kills  his 
successor — his  supplanter?  or  did  Laubarde- 
mont,  true  to  his  law-brother,  commit  suicide 
not  to  take  the  office  from  him,  albeit  he  covet- 
ed it?" 

Didier  took  a  forward  step. 

"My  lord,"  said  his  clear  voice,  "one  of  those 
men  slew  the  other.  He  then  insulted  a  lone 
woman,  even  in  the  place  of  sanctity.  I  was 
breaking  out  of  mv  cell  and  hurled  a  stone 
down  which  crushed  his  head.  I  am  guilty, 
furthermore,  you  see!  Let  my  death  no  longer 
be  delayed." 

"You  omit,"  said  the  old  prelate,  taking  a 
forward  step  himself,  although  bringing  him 
nearer  the  poniard,  glittering  with  barely  a 
bloodspot  to  speck  the  sheen,  "you  omit  that 
you  purposed  adding  another  death  more  di- 
rectly still  to  the  score!" 

"No!  It  is  just  an  indice  of  what  may  hap- 
pen if  you  do  not  heed  my  last  words  before 
this  scaffold!  Proscriptions  and  executions 
call  for  retaliation — private  executions,  pri- 
vate vengeances!  Unless  you  cease  or  suc- 
cumb, new  victims  will  mark  your  path." 

"My  son,  conspirators  against  the  King  must 
be  punished,"  responded  Richelieu  with  priest- 
ly meekness. 

"A  name  which  is  red-lettered  in  the  rubric 
of  the  State  must  ever  be  accursed!" 

"My  son,  reflect  on  your  speech  to  an  aged 
royal  servant!" 

"Reflect  on  your  course,  stubborn  prelate! 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  575 

Futile  will  be  the  great  deeds  of  your  admin- 
istration so  long  as  they  are  smeared  by  your 
janissaries'  bloody  hands.  In  future  times,  it 
will  be  said:  'This  was  a  great  ruler,  but  a 
tyrant,  whose  adherents  never  struck  a  blow 
but  the  blood  spurted  back  on  his  hands!'  " 

"My  son,"  said  Richelieu,  for  the  third  time, 
it  seeming  to  those  near  him  that  the  Con- 
ventional term  in  a  churchman's  mouth  be- 
came more  and  more  tender,  "no  tyrant  would 
listen  to  such  impertinence.  Do  what  my  fol- 
lowers may,  I  cover  their  acts  with  my  red 
robe!" 

It  seemed  a  permission,  and  more  than  one 
officer  prepared  to  rush  on  Didier,  but  Cavoye 
held  up  his  left  hand  to  stay  and  silence. 

''The  headsman's  livery!"  retorted  the  37oung 
man,  furious,  and  spurred  by  the  hostile  move- 
ments. 

Cavoye,  who  had  set  his  boot  on  the  stylet, 
took  it  up. 

"Mad  boy!  whom  even  the  scaffold  does  not 
daunt!"  said  the  Minister  with  admiration. 

"I  fear  nothing.  My  heart  that  was  sad- 
dened, and  for  a  moment  gladdened,  bounds 
with  a  new  delight  at  being  made  mouthpiece 
for  the  nation  on  the  rack!  Upon  the  scaf- 
fold I  should  have  struck  down  your  protege, 
that  Laffemas  who  proudly  bore  the  by-word 
of  'the  Cardinal's  Executioner!'  I  am  ready 
for  my  doom.  Oh,  how  lightened  would  be  any 
bitterness  if  I  could  feel  assured  that  my  life 
taken  by  the  Man  of '  Blood  should  be  the 
last  of  his  rule!" 

Intense  emotion  made  the  statesman  quiver; 
his  eyes  shone  with  phosphorescent  glare,  shift- 
ing like  the  wave  over  molten  lead  when  a  chill 
current    momentarily    checks  the    glow.       So 


576     RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

looked  he  when  stifling  personal  motives  in  the 
grip  of  political  expediency.  But  this  time  it 
was  goodness  that  obtained  the  upper  hand. 

"My  son,"  said  he,  with  unmistakable  affec- 
tion and  with  complete  pardon  for  the  fresh 
offences,  for  on  him  rushed  remembrance  of 
his  promise  to  Joseph,  "it  is  not  your  hand 
that  was  set  in  this  world  to  stay  mine  in  duty. 
I  forgive  you,  all!  Like  your  confederate  in 
contravention  of  the  royal  decree,  go  in  peace; 
and  dwell  you  happy  with  your  beloved  wife!" 

He  made  the  sign  of  benediction  widely, 
while  repeating  in  Latin  the  accompanying  for- 
mula. 

"I  refuse  the  grace — while  thanking  you  for 
pardoning  the  marquis.  I  demand  my  pen- 
alty!" 

"I  have  the  right  to  forgive  you  and  not  to 
punish,"  resumed  the  Minister,  still  approach- 
in0-. 

"The  right?  Oh,  as  'the  Father  of  the  King- 
dom?"" sneered  Didier. 

"As  your  own  father!"  whispered  the  lover 
of  Ramire,  in  his  ear,  having  ventured  his  head 
in  the  other's  reach  with  a  fool-hardiness  ap- 
parently insane. 

"Father!"  repeated  Didier,  but  luckily  his 
voice  was  scarcely  intelligible  from  the  shock. 

The  title  conveyed  to  the  foundling  more 
meaning  than  to  another. 

"Your  father,"  continued  Armand  de  Riche- 
lieu. "Pardon  me  for  the  years  of  neglect — 
for  all  errors  through  ignorance.  I  knew  not 
until  Father  Joseph  du  Tremblay  died  in  my 
arms,  that  you  were  son  of  my  first  and  only 
love,  my  dearest  Ramire,  of  Richelieu  Bourg. 
I  would  have  wedded  your  mother,  spite  of  all 
opposition  in  my  class  and  family,  but  they  re- 


rv'y*' 


OR,  KICUELIEU  DEFIE  bTt 

moved  her  while  I  was  as  the  dead.  Spirited 
away  to  the  Indies,  you  were  born  afar  from 
France,  and  all  I  have  left  of  life  will  not  suf- 
rice  to  obliterate  what  misery  you  have  un- 
dergone meanwhile.  But  you  shall  no  longer 
be  termed  Forsaken !  It  is  I  who  ordered  your 
marriage  to  the  woman  you  loved  !  Not  twice 
in  our  line  shall  the  mistake  be  made  of  Love 
being  sunk  under  Prejudice.  Motherless  one, 
forgive  as  I  forgive  all — never  more  shall  there 
be  a  secret  execution  !  the  dungeons  shall  be 
filled  up  !  prisons  shall  be  razed  before  I  blush 
under  my  son's  reproofs  !  " 

To  the  lookers-on,  hearing  no  words  of  sense, 
unable  to  understand  the  looks  of  the  two  par- 
ticipants in  the  discovery,  they  only  saw  a  rev- 
erend father  lecturing  a  wayward  youth  who 
finally  let  wisdom  rule  him.  A  spell  seemed 
cast  over  the  young  man  who  had  tried  to 
provoke  the  ailing  eagle.  What  was  their 
consternation  when  they  saw  Didier  open  his 
arms  and  throw  them  about  the  old  prelate's 
neck.  They  feared  it  was  to  strangle  him, 
since  he  had  rejected  the  dagger. 

But  as  the  soldiers  pressed  forward  to  res- 
cue or  revenge,  Richelieu  waved  them  back 
with  one  hand,  while  he  returned  the  embrace 
with  the  other  arm. 

Tears  were  seen  in  his  eyes,  and  in  his  voice 
the  same  tearfulness  made  the  tone  unsteady. 

"  Gentlemen  and  friends,  the  base  of  my  ill- 
ness was  the  blank  prospect  concerning  my 
inheritor.  I  sought  for  a  man  among  ye  who 
should  stand  in  the  gap  before  me  for  the  Lord, 
but  I  found  none.  That  which  man  could  not 
obtain,  the  Holy  Father  hath  provided.  He 
has  come  for  whom  my  brain  ached — the  solace 
is  here  for  which  my  heart  yearned  !     Blessed 


578  RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE ! 

be  the  name  of  the  Father  who  is  ever-merciful 
to  His  children !" 

Still  encircling  Didier  with  his  arm,  and 
leaning-  trustfully  upon  him,  he  led  him  within 
the  castle,  while  all  faces  were  weighed  down 
by  woi.der. 

"  Faith !  captain, "  said  Gondi,  in  a  loud  voice, 
taking  the  chief  guardsman  by  the  arm,  "  the 
master  has  fallen  into  the  good  way  since  the 
visit  of  the  envoy  from  the  Vatican !  '  The 
Holy  Father'  there  has  sent  him  a  successor, 
you  see !  It  will  not  be  long  before  we  learn 
of  whom  this  Signor  Mazarini  was  the  har- 
binger !" 

"  I  am  neither  churchman  nor  courtier,"  said 
Covoye  bluntly.  "  I  do  not  sharpen  my  sword 
to  cleave  Gordian  knots.  All  I  understand  is 
that  he  adopts  this  brave  young  man,  who  once 
defended  his  name — " 

"  Sooth!     I  was  his  second  in  that  affair  !" 

"  Instead  of  that  pest  Laffemas  !  But  who  is 
this  Didier,  whom  Father  Joseph  and  you 
patronise?" 

Gondi,  smiled,  to  effect  deep  knowledge. 

"The  husband  of  Marion  Delorme !  replied 
he,  following  within  the  castle  as  the  concourse 
broke  up.  "Thanks  to  her,  the  secret  machina- 
tions of  Prince  Gaston  have  been  foiled.  It 
is  a  meet  recompense  for  the  Magdalena  that 
she  weds  this  gentleman  of  Blois,  who  will 
take  her  to  that  part,  or  some  other  similarly 
benighted,  where  her  adventures  are  not  town- 
talk  !  " 

A  few  days  after  Gondi  might  congratulate 
himself  on  his  foresight,  for  Didier,  "equipped 
lavishly,  including  the  past  Laffemas  had  pro- 
vided, sailed  from  Havre  with  his  bride.  All 
things  considered,  fearing  there  would  not  be 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  579 

fime  before  his  death  to  inculcate  his  true  heir 
into  his  polic3',  loving  Ramire's  son  too  dearly 
to  pit  him  against  the  woes  which  he  saw 
would  envelop  the  realm,  the  Cardinal  bade 
him  good-by  ! 

He  saw  that  he  was  happy  with  Marion,  and 
that  tneir  life  in  Paris,  or  even  France  would 
be  impossible.  Her  defender  would  have  to 
draw  sword  over  and  over  again,  spite  of  all 
edicts. 

But  he  was  left  melancholy,  mourning  like 
David  over  Absalom.  The  two  or  three  secre- 
taries replacing  Father  Le-Clerc  du  Tremblay, 
heard  him  mutter  sometimes,  when  he  smil- 
ingly gazed  off  into  vacancy  or  studied  the 
Globe  : 

"  Blessed  is  the  man  whom  Thou  chasteneth, 
and  who  is  alone  like  the  sparrow  on  the  house- 
top!" 

Whereupon  Chavigny  would  whisper  to  Des 
Noyers  :  "  Still  brooding  over  that  whelp  Laf- 
femas  !  Heaven  gives  cardinals  great  luxuries 
but  also  the  prodigal  nephew  !  It  is  compen- 
sation !" 

Dr.  The. nines  was  attached  to  the  Minister's 
household  ;  he  soon  discovered  that  custodians 
of  state  secrets  must  dwell  in  an  honorable 
durance ;  his  practice  in  Paris  was  lucrative, 
but  he  was  often  heard  to  sigh  :  "  The  world 
will  long  suffer  since  circumstances  prevented 
me  extinguishing  the  Pest !" 

Being  an  Italian,  Mondori  enjoyed  the  favor 
of  Richelieu's  successor,  as  long  as  it  was  a 
desirable  favor,  well  into  the  reign  of  Louis 
XIV. 

He  brought  of  Louisette  as  an  actress,  and 
many  a  new  author,  but  with  the  garrulity  of 


580      RED  ROBE  AND  GREY  ROBE; 

old  age,  when  early  memories  are  the  love- 
liest, he  would  tell  them  : 

"  You  may  talk  about  playwrights,  but  there 
are  none  now!    In  my  youth,  the  greatest  did 
not  disdain  to  write  pieces  to  which  your  best 
attempts  are  fustian  !    I  had  the  honor,  with 
my  troupe,  to  perform  for  the  first,  and  the 
last  time,  alas!  the  famous  tragedy  of  'Mirame,' 
by  no  less  a  personage  than  the  late  Cardinal, 
Duke  of  Richelieu!     Corpo  di  l)io!  that  was  a 
play  !     Four  hours'  ding-dong,  give-and-take  ! 
not  a  line  less  than  twelve  syllables  !  how  its 
leagues  of  sonorous  verse  trowled   along  the 
stage !     Ah,  but  for  the  loss  of  my  two  great- 
est lions,  we   should   have  roared  you  a  tri- 
umph!    But,  'lackaday !  I  lost,  through  a  duel, 
the  celebrated  Matamore,  to  begin  with,  and 
his  substitute,  an  amateur  of  Blois,  who  re- 
hearsed magnificently,  was  sent  on  a  mission 
abroad  so  that  he  never  appeared  on  any  stage! 
And  with  him  went  my  other  star!  the  lovely 
and  witty  Marion   Delorme!    Yes,  gentlemen, 
that  dame   of   fame  was  my  leading  lady  in 
the  good  old  times   of  the    Thirteenth  Louis. 
With  them  'Mirame'  would   have  been  fixed  in 
the  repertoire!     But  the   manuscript  is  lost! 
Unique!   given  me   by   the  illustrious  author! 
with   his   autograph    and   seal!     A   villainous 
cook,  who  had  no  idea  soaringhigher  than  orto- 
lan-, used  the  pages  to  the  last,  religiously  pre- 
served as  I  had  treasured  it,  to  wrap  up  the 
cutlets  when  I  gave  a  feast  to  celebrate  Car- 
dinal Mazarini's  re-entry  into  Paris,  after  the 
Fronde.     Ah,  if  not  treasonable,  I   wish  we 
had  the  play-writing  Cardinal  re-entering  in- 
stead of  the  card  playing  one  !" 

Saverny  closed  his  uncle's  eyes  in  peace  ;  but 
he  did  not  long  enjoy  the  addition  of  Nangis 


OR,  RICHELIEU  DEFIED.  581 

to  his  titles;  no  longer  a  fop  but  an  able  sol- 
dier, he  was  slain  at  the  Battle  of  Clarenton ; 
it  was  during-  a  charge  made  by  the  Frondists, 
and  in  the  rank  cutting  him  down  was  Bri- 
chanteau.  Although  his  hand  had  not  touched 
his  cousin,  the  Banneret  was  so  heart-sore  from 
this  result  of  fratricidal  war  that  he  became  a 
monk. 

The  veil  maintained  over  Didier's  parentage 
enabled  him  to  keep  his  office  during  all  the 
mutations  of  the  Regency  of  Anna  of  Austria 
and  the  rule  of  Mazarin  ;  but  the  distance  did 
not  moderate  the  anxiety  with  which  he 
watched  the  travail  of  France. 

Only  once  had  he  and  Marion  cause  to  re- 
gret their  exile ;  it  was  when  the  Gazette  de 
France  brought  news  of  his  father's  death;  but 
it  was  glorious ;  the  arms  of  his  country  had 
conquered  on  every  side — he  had  fulfilled  the 
training  of  Father  Joseph  and  the  desire  of 
King  Henry  the  Fourth.  Except  that  grief, 
the  married  lovers  had  peace,  and  solitude  is 
the  Eden  of  the  happily  wedded. 


THE   END. 


■ 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

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